Former Tory minister and MP Andrea Jenkyns defects to join Nigel Farage's Reform
28 November 2024, 13:17 | Updated: 28 November 2024, 13:24
Dame Andrea Jenkyns has joined Reform UK and will run to be mayor of Lincolnshire.
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Dame Andrea contested the general election as a candidate for the Conservative Party but she finished second to Labour in the seat of Leeds South West and Morley.
Mr Farage announced at a press conference in central London that Dame Andrea had joined Reform and had also been selected as its candidate in the Greater Lincolnshire mayoral election in May next year.
The news of the defection came after Zia Yusuf, the Reform chairman, revealed the party had now exceeded a milestone of 100,000 members.
Dame Andrea, a former minister who served as a Tory MP from 2015 until this year, said leaving the Conservative Party was “not an easy decision” and she had “fought to the bitter end” at the general election.
She said: “But the truth is undeniable: the ship is sinking and perhaps, sadly, beyond salvage but enough is enough. It is time to step aboard a movement with vision and purpose and the courage to fight for Britain’s future.”
Asked how long she had been thinking about defecting, she said she has "always respected" Nigel Farage and noted her work with Richard Tice during Brexit.
"We are politically aligned. And how long have I been thinking about it? Well, I mean, I was tempted before the general election, but I am a loyal person to a party.
"I might not be loyal to prime ministers, as we've seen in the past, but I'm loyal to parties, and I believed, as I said, in going down with that ship fighting.
Mr Farage suggested more Tories should follow Dame Andrea’s lead as he said: “The truth of it is that half of the Conservative Party in Parliament should join Reform and the other half should join the Lib Dems.”
