Andrea Jenkyns joins Nigel Farage’s Reform UK in devastating blow for Tories | Politics | News

Former Tory minister Dame Andrea Jenkyns has joined Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.

The Reform leader unveiled the ex-Conservative MP as the party’s 100,000th member at a press conference in London today.

Dame Andrea will run to be the party’s candidate for the newly-created mayor of Lincolnshire on May 1 next year.

Mr Farage said: “Now we said that when we hit 100,000 members the lucky winner would go out for a pint for Lee Anderson.

“Now I fear that was deeply inaccurate. The use of the singular strikes me as being very unlikely with Lee.

“And by sheer coincidence the 100,000th member happens to be a former Conservative Member of Parliament, who would believe that. Isn’t that extraordinary that it’s worked out that way?

“Her name is Dame Andrea Jenkyns and not only is Andrea joining the party but after an internal selection process she has now been selected as our candidate and she will run to be the newly created mayor of Lincolnshire on May 1 this year and I believe she has every chance of winning.”

Dame Andrea said she is “politically aligned” with Reform UK after announcing she has joined the party.

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.

“I was elected as a Conservative, and I got knocked out as a Conservative, but I feel, unfortunately, the party has become tired.”