Former Tory minister Andrea Jenkyns defects to Nigel Farage's Reform

Former Tory minister Dame Andrea Jenkyns has defected to Nigel Farage's Reform UK and will run as a candidate in next year's local elections. 

The former skills minister, who lost her Morley and Outwood seat in Yorkshire in the Labour landslide in July, will stand to be mayor of Greater Lincolnshire in May.

She was unveiled at a London press conference today in which Mr Farage revealed that the party had passed 100,000 paying members for the first time. 

Dame Andrea has long been linked with a defection to Reform. In June she issued an election campaign leaflet with a prominent photo of her posing with Mr Farage, but no clear mention of the Conservative Party she was representing.

In September she attended the Reform UK conference, telling her X followers she was there in a journalistic capacity, adding: 'I'm a former Tory MP, I'm not defecting'.

She admitted this morning she has been 'tempted' to defect before losing her seat, and accused the Conservatives of having 'lost their way'. 

Dame Andrea said that she had joined 'the party of the brave' and lashed out at the decision to jail people sharing racist views online. 

'Leaving the Conservative Party, a party I have cherished for decades, was not an easy decision,' she said.

'I have long believed in conservatism and the principles it should stand for. I stayed loyal and fought to the bitter end in the general election, going down with the proverbial ship.

'But the truth is undeniable, the ship is sinking and perhaps, sadly, beyond salvage. Enough is enough.'

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.'