A former Tory minister has joined Reform UK just two months after insisting she would not be doing so.
Andrea Jenkyns, who briefly served as an education minister under Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, said she was now “politically aligned” with Nigel Farage’s right-wing party.
But in September, Jenkyns - who was made a dame in Johnson’s resignation honours - posted a video on X from the Reform UK party conference saying she would not be defecting.
She said: “I’m a former Tory MP, I’m not defecting. I’m on a press pass and I’m keen to find out what it’s all about. Is this the true home of conservativsm and why have we lost so many members to the Reform party.”
#ReformConferencepic.twitter.com/L69yBvep1P
— Dame Andrea Jenkyns ???????? (@andreajenkyns) September 20, 2024
Asked at a Reform UK press conference this morning how long she had been thinking about defecting, Jenkyns said she has “always respected” Farage and noted her work with the party’s deputy leader Richard Tice during Brexit.
“We are politically aligned,” she said. “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.”
