The Tories’ problem is not that senior figures talk to Reform. It is that enough of them now believe Reform offers salvation from extinction. More than a dozen former Conservative MPs have already signed up. Mr Jenrick is the first figure with real grassroots traction to have switched sides. Mrs Badenoch can claim she has inoculated the party against further infection. But removing Mr Jenrick highlights Tory disunity. The Conservatives’ survival is at stake. But so is the coherence of opposition politics. A right split between rival claims to authenticity offers voters noise rather than a credible programme – and dims the prospect of an effective government in waiting.