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A former Conservative minister has defected to join the Reform UK party led by Nigel Farage. In a blow to the new Tory leader Kemi Badenoch, Dame Andrea Jenkyns said she was “joining the party of the brave”.
The former education minister will run as the party’s candidate for mayor of Lincolnshire. She hit the headlines in 2022 when she appeared to raise her middle finger at Downing Street protesters. A Boris Johnson loyalist, she later claimed she was provoked by a “baying mob”.
In a statement, she said she should have shown “more composure” but declined to apologise, saying the incident came after she received multiple death threats.
Reform insiders claimed she was symbolic of a wider move of Tories to the party that includes councillors and former staff from Conservative Party headquarters.
Ms Jenkyns is a hardline Brexiteer who was the first to resign from Theresa May’s government over the issue.
She later become one of the “Spartans” group of Tory MPs who held out until the end against Ms May’s plans for the deal with the European Union.
Mr Farage announced the defection at a press conference in central London where he said she had become the 100,000th member of his party and will run to be its candidate for the newly-created role of Greater Lincolnshire Mayor in the May local elections.
Mr Farage, the MP for Clacton, said he had talked to other Tory MPs about joining Reform but said it was not his priority and that he is not chasing people. He said: “This is not designed to be an alternative Conservative Party. This is a completely different, fresh political movement.”
There had been suspicions Dame Andrea was considering a defection for a while.
She put a picture of the Reform UK leader on her leaflets during July’s general election and has previously described him as a “true patriot” and “one of the most influential politicians of our generation”.
Earlier this year The Independent revealed that Dame Andrea and former Leave.EU communications director Andy Wigmore attempted to make a deal between the Tories and Reform.
Sources have suggested that Mr Sunak “was interested” but ultimately convinced not to go ahead by his advisers.
Dame Andrea also attended Mr Farage’s 60th birthday party, along with the former Tory Party leader Liz Truss.
After her defection, she said she was “politically aligned” with Reform UK.
Asked how long she had been thinking about defecting, she said she had “always respected” Nigel Farage and noted her work with other party members 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.”
Meanwhile, the former Reform party deputy leader Ben Habib said he was leaving the party. “I’m saddened to share that I can no longer support Reform UK. Their decision to silence me from speaking to branches and reluctance to democratise have left me with no choice,” he posted on X (formally Twitter).