Defecting to Reform Made Me Feel Alive, Says Mayoral Hopeful
In a candid interview with The Times, Dame Andrea Jenkyns, the Reform UK mayoral candidate for Greater Lincolnshire, revealed that she felt “alive again” after defecting from the Conservative Party to Reform UK. Jenkyns, a former Conservative minister, has been embroiled in controversy over her eligibility to stand in the mayoral election, with claims that she does not live in the area.
According to The Times, Jenkyns’s eligibility is being challenged by a close relative of one of her opponents, independent candidate Marianne Overton. The Reform hopeful will face a hearing on April 25 over her eligibility to stand, just six days before voters go to the polls. Jenkyns dismissed the claims that she does not live in Lincolnshire, stating that she splits her time between the county and Yorkshire, where she previously represented Morley & Outwood as an MP.
As The Times reports, Jenkyns’s campaign has been marked by controversy, with her Tory rival, Rob Waltham, accusing her of “shameless opportunism” in competing to represent the county. Waltham, the leader of North Lincolnshire council, has been critical of Jenkyns’s proposal to install an Elon Musk-style Lincolnshire Doge, which her website boasts would keep council tax low by eliminating “woke wastage”.
Jenkyns has pointed to £200,000 which she claims is being squandered on foreign-language interpreters, and a one-off £50,000 fund for “green ambassadors”. Waltham described the idea of a Doge as “a load of rubbish” born out of a “lack of understanding of local government”. As The Times notes, the pair have also clashed over Jenkyns’s promise to end “net-zero madness” and support “local farmers and industry”.
The mayoral election in Greater Lincolnshire is being closely watched as a sign of the insurgent Reform UK party’s fortunes nationwide. Jenkyns’s defection to Reform UK has been seen as a significant coup for the party, with The Times quoting Jenkyns as saying that she had been courted for years by Nigel Farage’s various outfits.
In an interview with The Times, Jenkyns revealed that she had previously been offered a “bribe” to defect to Reform by one of its donors before the general election. When asked whether the offer had been made again, Jenkyns bristled, saying “Don’t be so ridiculous”.
As the election heats up, Jenkyns’s main opponent, Waltham, is seen as a surprising choice for Tory candidate, competing as he did for the nomination against three former MPs with a larger national profile. A local political watcher told The Times that while Waltham would “definitely get the job done”, it was unclear if he had the “star power” to get elected.
The election is also significant for Labour, with Jason Stockwood, the party’s candidate, hoping to capitalise on voters’ disillusionment with traditional left-right politics in this classically Tory area. However, his party’s perceived weakness on immigration may well hold him back, as one voter, Gillian Barnard, 65, told The Times that she was planning to vote for Stockwood, until being informed that he was running for Labour. “The Grimsby guy is Labour? I think I might have changed my mind then. I think I’ll have to vote Reform.”
As The Times reports, Jenkyns has described being courted for years by Farage’s various outfits and previously claimed that she was offered a “bribe” to defect to Reform by one of its donors before the general election. With her campaign gaining momentum, it remains to be seen whether Jenkyns can overcome the controversy surrounding her eligibility and become one of Reform UK’s first mayors.
The outcome of the election will be closely watched by politicians and voters alike, as it will provide an indication of the strength of the Reform UK party and its ability to win over voters in a traditionally Conservative area. As The Times notes, Lincolnshire is a sprawling agricultural powerhouse producing a quarter of all the UK’s vegetables, making the election a significant one for the rural community.
In conclusion, the mayoral election in Greater Lincolnshire is shaping up to be a closely contested and highly significant one, with Dame Andrea Jenkyns’s candidacy for Reform UK adding a new layer of complexity to the campaign. As The Times reports, Jenkyns’s defection to Reform UK has been seen as a significant coup for the party, and her campaign will be closely watched by politicians and voters alike.
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