Andrew Rosindell has tendered his resignation from the Conservative Party to join Reform UK.
The former shadow minister and Romford MP stated that the Conservative Party is “irreparably bound to the mistakes of previous governments” and unwilling to accept “meaningful accountability” for detrimental decisions.
Rosindell confirmed discussions with Nigel Farage on Sunday evening prior to his decision to join Reform UK. Farage lauded him as “a great patriot” who “will be a great addition to our team.”
A Conservative source dismissed Rosindell’s departure as an instance of Farage undertaking Kemi Badenoch’s “spring cleaning,” indicating they were “welcome” to him.
This move follows Robert Jenrick’s switch to Reform on Thursday, shortly after his dismissal from the shadow cabinet by Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, who accused him of plotting to defect.
In a statement on X, Rosindell asserted that the “views and concerns of constituents such as mine in Romford have been consistently ignored for far too long.”
“Our country has endured a generation of managed decline,” he added. “Radical action is now required to reverse the damaging decisions of the past and to forge a new course for Britain.”
Rosindell, who joined the Conservative Party at age 14 and previously served as shadow minister for foreign affairs, cited several reasons for his defection.
Among these, he highlighted the Labour government’s decision to hand the Chagos Islands to Mauritius and 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” as contributing factors.
“Both the government and the opposition have been complicit in the surrender of this sovereign British territory to a foreign power,” he stated.
Farage commented, “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.”
This development occurs shortly after the Reform leader affirmed that his party was “not a rescue charity for every panicky Tory MP” and would not become a Conservative Party 2.0.
Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Farage indicated that Reform would cease accepting defectors following the local elections scheduled for May 7.
The Conservative source noted that Rosindell had been “threatening to defect for months, denying it was happening as recently as Saturday.”
They added, “We’re not going to be distracted from holding this disastrous Labour government to account.”
The Labour party chair Anna Turley said: “The stench of a failed and dying Tory Party now engulfs Reform”.
“Nigel Farage is now unconditionally trying to rehabilitate their disastrous record,” she added. “The public won’t be fooled: the Tories failed Britain and Reform want to do it all over again.”
Rosindell’s move makes him Reform’s seventh MP and the third sitting Conservative MP to join the party, after Danny Kruger and Jenrick.
Approximately 20 former Tory MPs have defected to Reform UK, including former Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi last week.
At a press conference announcing his defection to Reform, Jenrick stated that the Conservatives “broke” the country and had “betrayed its voters” with the UK “in decline.”
He later told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg that the country needed a “new and exciting” leader “who hasn’t been part of that failed consensus.”
Badenoch characterized it as a “good day” for the Conservatives and remarked that Jenrick was “now Nigel Farage’s problem.”
Separately, she wrote in the Daily Telegraph that Reform was destined to fail as it welcomed “toxic people” who “destroy organisations.”
“A movement built on grievance and serial disloyalty is doomed to fail, and they will be at each other’s throats soon enough,” she concluded.