Populist Reform UK party reveals another Conservative MP defection
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MP Andrew Rosindell speaking at the House of Commons in Britain in 2024. He is the second sitting MP to join Reform UK from the Tories in a week.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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LONDON – Reform UK has announced the second defection of a sitting lawmaker in a week to its party, as lawmaker Andrew Rosindell joined from the Conservatives.
Mr Nigel Farage’s poll-leading party said Mr Rosindell, who held the position of foreign affairs spokesman in the shadow Cabinet of Tory leader Kemi Badenoch, had joined due to the Conservatives’ “hypocritical position over the Chagos Islands”.
That is a reference to the deal struck by the current Labour government, but largely negotiated by the previous Conservative administration, to transfer the sovereignty of the archipelago in the Indian Ocean to Mauritius.
The US and Britain share a military base on the island of Diego Garcia and, while British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the deal was critical to secure the future of the base, the Tories – now no longer in government – have lambasted it as expensive and ill-considered.
“Andrew is a great patriot,” Mr Farage said in an e-mailed statement. “The Tories’ lies and hypocrisy over the Chagos Islands betrayal has tipped him over the edge, and we are delighted to welcome him to our ranks.”
Mr Farage is due to hold a press conference on Jan 20 where he has promised a “well-known” figure associated with the governing Labour party will defect to Reform.
That would be a more unusual event – while the Tories and Reform are both right-of-centre, Labour is typically seen as a left-wing party.
In a statement on X, Mr Rosindell, 59, said he had been a member of the Conservatives since the age of 14 but that it was now time “to put country before party”.
He added that the Conservative Party “is irreparably bound to the mistakes of previous governments and unwilling to take meaningful accountability for the poor decisions made over so many issues”.
Mr Rosindell is the second sitting Member of Parliament to join Reform from the Tories in a week, after the planned defection of Mr Robert Jenrick
Mr Nadhim Zahawi, a former Tory Cabinet minister, also announced his defection earlier in the week.
It takes the tally of sitting MPs that Reform now has to seven out of 650.
Speaking at a press conference on Jan 15, Mr Farage urged more high-profile Conservatives to join his upstart party, but said he would be accepting defections only until local elections on May 7.
A general election is not due to be held until mid-2029. BLOOMBERG
