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”.
