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”.

Image:
Andrew Rosindell with Nigel Farage in 2016. Pic: PA

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


Amanda Akass

Amanda Akass

Political correspondent

@amandaakass

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 seats in parliament to seven. That’s a 40% increase since the start of the year.

What’s more potentially embarrassing for Kemi Badenoch is that his stated reasons for jumping ship echo the devastating critique made by Jenrick just last week about his “rotten” former party.

“Sadly, I now believe that the Conservative Party is irreparably bound to the mistakes of previous governments and unwilling to take meaningful accountability,” he said.

It’s particularly painful as it amplifies the attacks Labour have been making on the Tories since winning the last election.

Last Friday Badenoch told Sky News her party was more united because of the defenestration of her rival Jenrick. She insisted no other shadow cabinet members would follow.

Andrew Rosindell wasn’t in the shadow cabinet, and he’s survived a series of controversies – but his loss is still embarrassing, however much Tory sources suggest Reform are welcome to him.

We’ll have to wait to find out if these recent defections and Nigel Farage’s 7 May deadline for anyone considering following suit will lead to a rush of other new recruits.

But the momentum is certainly with Reform and against the Tories, and that’s clearly not a comfortable position for Kemi Badenoch to be in.

A Conservative Party source said Mr Rosindell had threatened to defect for months but denied he was doing so until as recently as Saturday.

“The Conservative Party supported Rosindell throughout his many troubles, and he’s responded by stabbing his friends, colleagues and activists in the back. Reform are welcome to him,” the source said.

Meanwhile, Labour Party chairwoman Anna Turley said the “stench of a failed and drying Tory party engulfs Reform” and a spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats said Mr Rosindell’s defection “isn’t a political earthquake”.


Is Jenrick a traitor? Was there a mole?

“It’s a change of rosette for a career politician worried about getting a P45,” they said.

“The public are fed up hearing about how Britain is broken from the very same people who broke it.”

Read more:
All the former Conservative MPs who have defected to Reform?
Jenrick defection makes it more likely Reform will win general election, says Yusuf

Who is Andrew Rosindell?

Andrew Rosindell first joined the Tory party at the age of 14.

He was elected to represent Romford, Essex, in 2001 and was re-elected in 2024.

In parliament, he has previously served as shadow minister for home affairs between 2007 – 2010 and was a long-time advocate of Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union.

He belonged to a small group of Conservatives who voted against the Brexit withdrawal agreement each time it was put before the House.

Rosindell also long campaigned for the Union flag to be flown on all public buildings across the UK, according to his website.

In 2010, it was granted that the Union flag will be flown every day and all year from the Victoria Tower of the Palace of Westminster, which Rosindell had been campaigning for.

He is now chairman of the Flags & Heraldry Committee group in Parliament.

Following the defection of Mr Jenrick and, before that, former Conservative chancellor Nadhim Zahawi, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said she was “100% confident” she would not see any more of her shadow cabinet leave for Reform.

It comes as the party, headed by Mr Farage has set 7 May – the date of crucial local elections in which they hope to make significant gains – as a cut-off point for admitting current and former MPs, as well as for local councillors to defect.

Asked if she would be on alert for MPs seeking to switch sides before the elections, Ms Badenoch told the Press Association news agency: “I think people should be wondering why they set that deadline.”