Mark Reckless’s stunning defection to Ukip is further proof of the great Tory split

The defection of Mark Reckless is the best possible end for Nigel Farage’s party conference, and the worst possible start for David Cameron’s. Tomorrow’s newspapers will lead on the story of Tory split, with Reckless and Douglas Carswell only the first two – I will be surprised if there is not a third before the election. Yes, Ed Miliband has had a dreadful party conference but every opinion poll and every bookmaker still has Labour on course to win the next general election. Why? Because there has been a great reversal in British politics: the left is now united and the right is split.

Mark Reckless's stunning defection underlines a shift that has long been underway amongst the sympathies of fed-up conservatives: Ukip may have no MPs but it won the Euro election and has for some time been the third force in British politics.