Stop Tory defectors to Reform, says Tory Reform defector Jenkyns

In the wake of defections from Tories such as Robert Jenrick and Nadhim Zahawi to her party, one senior Reform figure has spoken out and said she has had enough of failed Conservatives signing up.

Andrea Jenkyns, the mayor of Greater Lincolnshire, has warned her party was facing an “establishment takeover” of ex-MPs who served in the last Tory government, saying: “I completely agree with Nigel Farage and Zia Yusuf to pull up the drawbridge to the Conservatives.” The pair had put a hard deadline of the May local elections for Tories to make the jump.

“We don’t need their arrogance, saying they are coming on board to ‘help’. Nigel, Zia and the team are doing just fine,” added Jenkyns. “I joined because I want Nigel to be PM and because of the sovereign voice of our members.

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“We’ve got to the stage now where we need to pull up the drawbridge to the Tory party. Otherwise we risk an establishment takeover.”

Alas Jenkyns, the spokesperson for the “sovereign voice of our members”, neglected to mention another Conservative MP who defected to Reform, having served as an assistant whip under Boris Johnson and a junior education minister under both Johnson and his short-lived successor Liz Truss.

This Tory then stood again in the 2024 general election, losing her seat to Labour, before popping up at Reform’s annual conference pretending to be a journalist (“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.”)

Two months later she defected to Reform, and now Andrea Jenkyns is mayor of Greater Lincolnshire, although she appears to have forgotten everything before that. Perhaps the woman who entertained last year’s conference with a self-written power ballad called Insomnia is still struggling to sleep?