Malcolm Cupis, who was the Reform UK Parliamentary candidate for the Melksham and Devizes Constituency in the 2024 General Election and Chairman of the Constituency Branch, has resigned from Reform UK and rejoined the Conservative Party.
Malcolm was formerly an active member of the Conservative Party for over 20 years, serving as a candidate, campaigner, activist and Chairman of the Bath and North East Somerset Conservative Policy Forum.
“We are delighted to announce that Malcolm has rejoined the Conservative Party,” comments Melksham and Devizes Chairman Pam Hyde. “Malcolm is widely respected as a passionate campaigner, an astute strategist, a brilliant communicator and a highly effective team builder. Importantly he is also a genuinely local man who grew up and went to school in Melksham and was once Editor of the local newspapers. He lives locally, in Keevil, and has a deep understanding of local and regional issues. It is great to have him back.”
“I have rejoined the Conservative Party for all the right reasons”, Malcolm comments. “I left it in 2021 because I felt it had lost its way in terms of policy. Policy should always be open for debate and should never stand still. It should be under constant review. What you can’t debate are the core underlying values of a political party and in particular the way that it treats its most precious assets, its volunteers, members and supporters. I have never had any question about those vital components in the Conservative Party.
“The Conservative Party has had to convince me that it is committed to once again becoming a conservative Conservative Party, and in recent weeks it has done that. I am a classically liberal blue collar Conservative who was inspired by Margaret Thatcher. Hearing Kemi Badenoch specifically invoke the memory of the Iron Lady has ultimately been a deciding factor for me.
“I do believe that the Conservative Party badly lost its way in terms of policy and direction in the last years of government, but I genuinely feel that there is true recognition of this now and a clear understanding of the need to go back to basics in terms of policy and core values. I am excited to be a part of that and I have a great sense of coming home to something that played an important part of my life for a very long time. The country is in a parlous state. I think the average Conservative supporter and the average Reform supporter fundamentally have the same concerns, the same needs and the same ambitions, but I believe that only the Conservative Party has the core values, experience and structure to deliver those things and save the nation.
“Now is the time for unity, to get the best people together so that they can be united and focussed on saving this great nation from the clear and present danger we face. It is not the time for petty squabbles and overwhelming egos. I know that the Conservative Party is the right place for me to be and the right choice for the future the nation must secure. I have rejoined because I am determined to play a part in delivering what the great majority of British people desperately need and aspire to.”