Rupert Matthews, the elected Police and Crime Commissioner for Leicestershire and Rutland, has resigned from the Conservative Party after four decades of membership and joined Nigel Farage’s Reform UK. His switch, announced on Monday, gives Reform its first police and crime commissioner in England and marks the party’s highest-profile defection to date. Matthews secured re-election in May 2024 with 35.3% of the vote, narrowly ahead of Labour on 34.8%. Earlier this year Reform also topped the Leicestershire County Council poll with 32.4%, compared with 28.4% for the Conservatives, underscoring the party’s expanding foothold in the Midlands. The defection comes as the main parties intensify scrutiny of Reform’s growing support. Last week a leaked Labour National Executive Committee discussion confirmed the party is using voter-profiling material supplied by campaign group Hope Not Hate, which has repeatedly branded Reform “far-right.” Reform dismissed the characterisation, but Matthews’s move is likely to sharpen debate over the party’s influence ahead of the next general election.