Andrew Rosindell has become the second Conservative MP to defect to Reform UK within a week.
The MP for Romford, Essex, announced on Sunday evening he had decided to resign from his position as a shadow foreign office minister in Kemi Badenoch’s frontbench and as a member of the Conservative Party.
The move came after former senior Tory Robert Jenrick defected on Thursday. It takes the total number of MPs in Reform UK to seven.
Both Nigel Farage and Mr Jenrick welcomed Mr Rosindell to the party, calling him a “patriot”.
Mr Rosindell, who has been an MP since 2001, said it was time to put “country before party” in a statement announcing his defection.
“Since joining the Conservative Party at the age of 14, I have been a loyal and committed supporter of the principles advocated by Margaret Thatcher that have always underpinned my own political beliefs,” he wrote.
“However, the time has come to put country before party.
“The failure of the Conservative Party both when in government and more recently in opposition to actively hold the government to account on the issue of Chagossian self-determination and the defence of British sovereignty, represents a clear red line for me.”
Rosindell’s loss is embarrassing, however much Tory sources suggest Reform are welcome to him
Andrew Rosindell certainly isn’t as high profile as Robert Jenrick or Nadhim Zahawi, the two Conservatives who defected to Reform UK last week.
But Rosindell was a junior shadow minister who had been a member of the Tory party since the age of 14, elected to parliament 23 years ago. The move increases Reform UK’s number of…
