# Young Tories defect to Lib Dems over Badenoch shift

> Self-described moderates say Ed Davey's party offers them a home as Conservatives shift further right.
- Title: Young Tories defect to Lib Dems over Badenoch shift | Shortify
- Summary: Self-described moderates say Ed Davey's party offers them a home as Conservatives shift further right. Young Conservative moderates are defecting to the…
- Keywords: cody butler, josh bancroft, liberal democrats, conservatives, kemi badenoch, ed davey, one nation liberals, party defection, brighton conference, news, world, Young
- Source: the Guardian — https://theguardian.com/politics/2026/sep/20/young-tory-defectors-lib-dems-conference
- Published: 2026-09-20T18:04:26+00:00
- Read time: 2 min
- Topics: cody butler, josh bancroft, liberal democrats, conservatives, kemi badenoch, ed davey, one nation liberals, party defection, brighton conference, news, world
## Young Tory quits over party shift
Cody Butler, twenty-one, resigned as chair of the One Nation Conservative Network in July, saying centrists and climate advocates were no longer welcome in the party.

> There is no easy way to describe joining a new political party, because it's like finding a new family.
## Butler joins Lib Dems a week later
A week after resigning from the Conservatives, Butler joined the Liberal Democrats. He is now setting up a new group called the One Nation Liberals with other young defectors.
## Councillor cites Badenoch's purge
Josh Bancroft, twenty-six, a former Tory councillor on Cannock Chase council, joined the Lib Dems earlier this month. He said moderates have grown in number since Kemi Badenoch began purging the Conservative parliamentary party.

> Moderates like me have been forced out of the big tent over the past few years.
## Badenoch blocks net zero supporters
In July, Badenoch warned anyone supporting net zero targets or Britain's membership of the European convention on human rights would be blocked from standing as a candidate. Former minister Gavin Barwell lost the whip.
## Davey uses Badenoch as contrast
At the Lib Dems conference in Brighton on Sunday, party leader Ed Davey repeatedly mentioned Badenoch, contrasting her climate scepticism with his party's commitment to climate action and net zero policies.

> Unlike Kemi Badenoch, who thinks there wasn't a problem with this summer's heatwaves, we actually realise you have to take action on climate change.
## Lib Dems eye seventy-two seat gains
The Lib Dems won seventy-two seats in the last election, the largest third party in British politics for over a century. Of the twenty-seven seats where they came second in two thousand twenty-four, twenty were taken by the Conservatives.
## Davey rules out Tory pact
On Sunday, Davey explicitly ruled out any future pact with the Conservatives. When asked about an arrangement with Labour, he said maximising Lib Dem MPs would give his party a stronger hand in future negotiations.

> That means you have to box really smartly.
## Butler pitches Lib Dems as kingmakers
Butler told other One Nation Conservatives that backing the Lib Dems means backing future kingmakers of government in a five-party system. They will write the budget, he argued, not the Conservatives.

> They will write the budget. The Conservatives won't.
## Key takeaway

Young Conservative moderates are defecting to the Liberal Democrats, citing Kemi Badenoch's purge of centrists and climate advocates from the Tory party.