Nadine Dorries has hit back at Susanna Reid in a TV clash over jailed tweeter Lucy Connolly after being accused of sharing a Reform stage with a 'convicted criminal'.

Former Conservative Culture Secretary Ms Dorries, who defected to Reform UK last month, was involved in a fiery argument on ITV's Good Morning Britain today.

Ms Connolly had been warmly greeted by Nigel Farage with a hug at the Reform party conference in Birmingham last month, not long after being freed from jail.

She served a year of a 31-month sentence for stirring up racial hatred in a tweet where she called for 'mass deportation now' and told people to 'set fire' to migrant hotels in the aftermath of the Southport murders.

Susanna Reid opened today's GMB interview with Ms Dorries by discussing the former MP's decision to defect, adding: 'And you end up on stage with Nigel Farage and also a convicted criminal, Lucy Connolly.'

When Ms Dorries replied that she 'wasn't on the stage' with her, Reid went to say it was 'the same stage as Lucy Connolly, a convicted criminal who was convicted of inciting racial hatred'.

Ms Dorries responded by saying: 'I call her a mother rather than a convicted criminal.'

When asked whether she felt 'uncomfortable' about being in company with Connolly, Ms Dorries said: 'It's a new party.

'Well, Reform is the same thing Nigel has been saying for 30 years, banging the same drum - didn't decide on a policy because it wanted to win votes and I felt a relief to be in a party with other people who share those views.'

When pressed further on Connolly's case by GMB co-presenter Ed Balls, a former Labour Shadow Chancellor, Ms Dorries said: 'I felt what we saw with Lucy Connolly was a severe reaction to a woman who took down a tweet, and we've all posted - Ed tweets - that we shouldn't have done.

'It was in the aftermath of an attack where young girls had been murdered. I'm not sure what the purpose of this is.'

Ms Dorries also used the interview to predict Robert Jenrick would become Conservative leader 'very soon' - as she told of feeling 'pity' for the party she left for Reform.

Former cabinet minister Ms Dorries, who this year defected from the Tories, today praised Shadow Justice Secretary Mr Jenrick - amid controversy over his comments about 'seeing no white faces' during a visit to a Birmingham district. 

She also poured scorn on her former party, which is currently staging its annual conference in Manchester - with Shadow Chancellor Sir Mel Stride speaking yesterday and current leader Kemi Badenoch on stage today. 

Ms Dorries was asked whether she thought Mr Jenrick might follow in her footsteps by switching parties.

She replied: 'Do I think Robert Jenrick would jump? I think there's a bigger question. I'll tell you what I think – Robert Jenrick is probably going to be leader of the Conservative party very soon.

'When the May local elections come, there won't be a single Conservative councillor left in either Wales or Scotland - that's a very unusual situation for a party to be in, in Westminster.'

Most recent UK-wide opinion polling puts the Conservatives in joint third place with the Liberal Democrats on 17 per cent - behind Reform's 27 per cent and Sir Keir Starmer's Labour on 20 per cent.

Mr Jenrick finished runner-up to Kemi Badenoch in last autumn's Conservative leadership election, after defeated former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak stepped down.

Ms Dorries went on to say today: 'Kemi Badenoch has already said yesterday that if – I think the words she used were, if the poll ratings hadn't improved by May she would resign.

'I think basically what she's saying is, 'If we're absolutely trounced in the May local elections, I'll resign".

'I think Jenrick will be leading the Conservative party and I think he sees that opportunity.'

Bookmakers have today suggested Ms Badenoch is odd-on to be replaced as Conservative leader next year, with Mr Jenrick the favourite to succeed her.

Ladbrokes put the chances of her being toppled in 2026 at 8/11, while she is 7-1 to go this year - with Mr Jenrick the 11/10 frontrunner while Shadow Home Secretary Sir James Cleverly is seen as his closest contender at 6-1.

Cal Gildart, from the betting firm, said: 'The writing is on the wall for Kemi Badenoch's leadership, as far as the odds go.

'Even if she hangs on beyond 2026, the betting markets give her next to no chance of leading her party into the next election.'

When asked today on GMB whether she felt 'sad' about the Conservatives' present position, Ms Dorries said: 'I feel pity more than sad.

'You've already got their Treasury team at each other's throats - we've got Mel Stride saying, if I was [Chancellor] Rachel Reeves, I would immediately hike up income tax because that's the cleanest and quickest way to raise money.

'It was laughable yesterday when I heard Mel Stride say he would take away business rates across the UK.

'That was an idea that was put forward over and over again in 14 years we were in government and that was never ever entertained.' 

Mr Jenrick's reported remarks about his 90-minute visit to Handsworth were made at an Aldridge-Brownhills Conservative Association dinner on March 14.

He went on to say at the event that it was 'not about the colour of your skin or your faith', but about people 'living alongside each other'.

Handsworth's population by ethnicity is nine per cent white, 25 per cent Pakistani, 23 per cent Indian and 10 per cent Bangladeshi, according to data from the Office for National Statistics.

Mr Jenrick has since told a fringe event at the Conservatives' conference that he visited during the early stages of Birmingham's bin strike and that the area 'did look like a slum'.

He has also said people should not be stopped from talking about integration out of a 'misplaced fear of being called racist'.

Asked whether he had any regrets about his comments, Mr Jenrick told BBC Radio 5 Live on Tuesday: 'No, not at all and I won't shy away from these issues.'

Ms Badenoch has defended her shadow minister, saying she did not agree with accusations of racism and that there was 'nothing wrong with making observations'.

But Andy Street, former Conservative mayor for the West Midlands, has described Mr Jenrick as being 'wrong' about Handsworth.

And the Bishop of Birmingham, Right Reverend Michael Volland, described himself as dismayed and disappointed to hear Mr Jenrick's remarks.

In a letter to the shadow minister, co-signed by a number of community leaders, the bishop said: 'Comments like those you have made have the potential to generate anxiety and stir up division.

'They can feed into a harmful narrative that provides fuel for a fire of toxic nationalism.

'It is deeply unhelpful for politicians to make such comments and I encourage you to think about how your rhetoric might contribute towards unity rather than stoking division.'

Labour's West Midlands mayor Richard Parker told BBC Radio WM he found the comments racist, adding: 'He's set out intentionally to draw on a particular issue, people's colour, to identify the point he wanted to make.'