Keith Prince, the Reform UK leader of Havering Council, is considering standing for Parliament after what he called an "unbelievably amazing journey" since leaving the Conservative Party a year ago.
Mr Prince, who was a Conservative member for 49 years before defecting to Reform UK in August 2025, told MyLondon's forthcoming podcast The London Brief that he might put his name forward for a Westminster seat. He said the decision would be tough because he loves his current roles as a London Assembly Member and council leader.
A year of dramatic change
Mr Prince first won an elected position in 1990 and had seen party leaders from Margaret Thatcher to Rishi Sunak come and go. On the eve of last year's Conservative conference, he was pictured shaking hands with Nigel Farage as he became the latest high-profile political figure to abandon the Tories.
"I prefer to call it upgrading really rather than defection," Mr Prince said. "It wasn't a decision I took lightly. After all, I'd been in the Conservative Party for 49 years. When I joined the Conservatives, we had a really dynamic leader - Margaret Thatcher, with a vision for the country.
"I just felt that over the years the party lost its way, and it was no longer inspiring or something that people could actually get on with. So I looked around and there you had a very charismatic leader in Nigel Farage with a vision, and I felt the only way that I could really help my country was by joining Reform, so that we could get stuff done, and really repair the mess that's been made by consecutive governments."
Reform's rise in Havering
Several months after his defection, Mr Prince won one of 39 seats Reform UK took on Havering Council, and he ended up as leader of the party's first ever London local authority. He describes the position as a "blessing" and a chance to "make a real difference" in the place he grew up.
Nationally, polling shows Reform in first place or just behind Labour, indicating they will significantly increase their current eight MPs into at least three figures. Despite the Prime Minister's claims otherwise, a snap election is still understood to be possible in the coming months, with opposition parties readying themselves for an announcement.
Weighing the next step
Mr Prince said giving up what he has would be a "real strain". He explained: "This time last year, I couldn't have even imagined that [being the leader] would have happened. Possibly, and I'm not saying I will, but there's a possibility that I might put my name forward for Parliament.
"It's something I have to think about. I just love being leader of Havering Council. I love being a GLA man, but in the GLA, I represent Havering and Redbridge. Havering is where I was born, raised, educated, Redbridge is where my children were born, raised, and educated, so I have a real affinity with both boroughs. I am, actually, Mr Havering and Redbridge. So to not do that would be a real, real strain for me.
"Being leader of Havering, my home borough, you know, and actually having the power to make a difference in that borough, doing the right things for the people - that's just a blessing, that really is. Being an MP is great, I guess, but you don't have the power that a leader of a council has if you're a backbencher. And I'm probably too old now to make the cabinet, whereas in my borough, I'm running the cabinet. So that's a tough decision that I'll have to make. But I don't know - I'll see how that goes."
Mr Prince said he has "nothing personal" against Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch and considers her a "friend", but insists the party has "lost its way" and that last year felt like the right time to defect. He said Reform UK could mount a serious challenge in the outer London boroughs.
