Nigel Farage has suggested the Conservative Party is suffering a “death by a thousand defections” after Aidan Burley crossed the floor to join Reform UK.
But the reality is that he’s doing little more than draining the swamp after the former Tory MP’s private schoolboy antics came to light once again.
Burley, the former MP for Cannock Chase, was fired as a parliamentary private secretary to transport secretary Justine Greening in 2011 after it was revealed that he had hired an SS uniform worn by his friend at a Nazi-themed stag party.
He admitted ‘clearly inappropriate behaviour’ at a bash in a French ski resort with 12 Oxford-educated friends, some of whom chanted ‘Hitler, Hitler, Hitler’ at a restaurant.
The stag, who was seated next to Burley, wore an SS uniform and later posed giving the Nazi salute – illegal in France.
He was also criticised for allegedly “texting and dozing” at a lecture on the Holocaust during a visit to Auschwitz.
Burley was mocked by Farage on live television after the event, with the then Ukip leader and MEP laying into him during a weather forecast skit for the BBC’s Sunday Politics programme.
Burley joined Reform along with Holly Valance’s billionaire property developer husband Nick Candy and Suella Braverman’s husband, Rael.
Related: Billionaire property tycoon says he is donating ‘seven figure sum’ to Reform UK after defecting