Tory MP Andrew Rosindell defects to Reform UK

Andrew Rosindell has resigned from the Conservative Party and defected to Reform UK. According to the former shadow minister and MP for Romford, the Conservatives were irreparably tied to previous governments and were not ready to accept meaningful responsibility for bad decisions. He said he had spoken to Nigel Farage on Sunday evening before deciding to join his party. He is a great patriot who will be a fantastic addition to our team, Reform UK leader Ed Miliband described him as a

great patriot. Rosindell's departure was a prime example of Farage's

spring cleaning

of Tory leader Kemi Badenoch, according to a Conservative source, and Reform was

welcome to him.

Rosindell's resignation comes after Robert Jenrick joined Reform on Thursday, just hours after being sacked from the shadow cabinet by Badenoch, who had accused him of plotting to defect. In a statement on X, the 59-year-old, who served as a shadow foreign minister before his resignation, said that theviews and concerns of constituents, such as mine in Romford, have been consistently ignored for far too long.

Our country has suffered through a decade of managed decline,

Trump said.

To reverse the disastrous decisions of the past and to re-establish a new course for the United Kingdom, drastic action is now required.

Following Danny Kruger and Jenrick, Rosindell will be Reform's seventh member and third sitting Conservative MP to join the party. Reform UK now has the joint biggest party group in the Commons, with Sinn Fein, which does not send any of its seven MPs to Westminster, this week. It is two MPs behind the SNP, the country's fourth largest party. Around 20 Tory MPs have pledged their allegiance to Reform UK, including former Prime Minister Nadhim Zahawi, who did so a week ago. Jenrick said it was great news that Rosindell had joined Reform, adding:

I'm sure Nigel [Farage] and the party will welcome them in.

But he has said very clearly that you should make up your mind quickly because reform is quickly rising. Conservative MPs defecting to Resign were self-serving and completely wrong, Shadow Welsh Minister Mims Davies told BBC Radio 4's Westminster Hour that they were completely incorrect.I find it very troubling that these people who are saying they want to make it right, want to be right-wing, but ultimately, there is a lot in Reform that is very left-wing and clearly populist,she said.I honestly don't think that arguing that Britain is failing helps people. People want to know that the facts are inaccurate, and that the people they've chosen are able to step up their sleeves and get to what needs to be fixed rather than appearing self-serving.

Rosindell has been the mayor of east London since 2001, although his majority was reduced from 17,893 to just 1,463 at the last general election. Following his departure from reform, he cited Labour's decision to fork over the Chagos Islands to Mauritiusand the Conservative Party's

failure

as one of the reasons for his resignation, as well as the failure to properly hold the government accountable on the issue. Negotiations to transfer the islands' sovereignty began under Conservative rule in late 2022. The Tories have, on the other hand, criticized by the Starmer government last year, under Kemi Badenoch. Rosindell said the Chagos handover was

one of the reasons

for his departure, according to reporters on Monday, although he also said that his old party was

not radical enough

to give answers to Britain's challenges. Farage said in a interview with reporters that his party will not become a

lifeboatfor Conservative MPs, orTory Party 2. 0

. Since voting in the Scottish and Welsh parliaments and a string of local elections in England, the Reform leader has stated that his party will not accept further defections. Rosindell had been

threatening to defect for months, denying it was happening as recently as Saturday,a Conservative source said.We're not going to be distracted from holding this disgraceful Labour government accountable," they said.

The stench of a failed and dying Tory Party now engulfs Reform,

Labour Party Chair Anna Turley said.

Nigel Farage is now purely trying to recover their shaky track record,

she continued. The people will not be fooled by the Conservatives' debacle in Britain, and the Tories' retaliation of the country and the Torch The defection wasa change of rosette for a career politician concerned about a P45,a Liberal Democrat source said,The public is fed up hearing how Britain is broken from the very same people who broke it.

Jenrick told anews conference that he defectioned the Conservative Party

brokethe country and hadbetrayed its votersand that the country hadbrokedthe government and hadbetray its voters Later that day, he told Laura Kuenssberg of the BBC that the country needs a new and exciting leader

who hasn't been part of the failed consensus. Badenoch called it a

good dayfor the Conservatives, and Jenrick said it wasnow Nigel Farage's problemin the case. Reform was dooming if it acceptedtoxic peoplewhodestroy companies,she wrote in the Telegraph.A movement based on grief and serial disloyalty is doomed to fail, and it will be at each other's throats soon enough," she said. Correction - an earlier, breaking news version of this incorrectly stated that Rosindell was the seventh Conservative MP to defect to Reform Britain. He is actually the third sitting Conservative to change allegiance, and the number of Reform UK MPs has increased to seven.