Posted on 01/19/2026 2:22:36 PM PST by MinorityRepublican
Andrew Rosindell has resigned from the Conservative Party and defected to Reform UK.
The former shadow minister and MP for Romford said the Tories were "irreparably bound to the mistakes of previous governments" and not willing to take "meaningful accountability" for poor decisions.
He said he had spoken to Nigel Farage on Sunday evening before agreeing to join his party. The Reform UK leader called him "a great patriot" who "will be a great addition to our team".
A Conservative source said Rosindell's departure was a prime example of Farage doing the "spring cleaning" of Tory leader Kemi Badenoch, and Reform was "welcome" to him.
Rosindell's move comes after Robert Jenrick joined Reform on Thursday, hours after being sacked from the shadow cabinet by Badenoch, who had accused him of plotting to defect.
The 59-year-old, who was a shadow foreign minister before his resignation, said in a statement on X 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 becomes Reform's seventh MP and the third sitting Conservative MP to join the party, following Danny Kruger and Jenrick.
This week's defections mean that - putting aside independent MPs, who do not vote in a block - Reform UK now has the joint fifth biggest party grouping in the Commons, alongside Sinn Fein which does not send any of its seven MPs to Westminster.
It is two MPs behind the fourth biggest party, the SNP.
20 former Tory MPs have switched their allegiance to Reform UK, including former Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi, who did so a week ago.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
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Reform will have the same problem that we did with the Tea Party and MAGA, when the RINOS joined but continued to be RINOS. The TINOs will join Reform and then destroy it from within.
Farage said that he will not accept any more defections from the Conservative Party after May 7, 2026.
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