REFORM UK added a seventh MP on Sunday after Conservative lawmaker Andrew Rosindell resigned from the party and defected, becoming the second Tory MP in a week to make the move.
Rosindell announced the decision late on Sunday on X, saying it was time “to put country before party”. His defection follows the move by former Conservative leadership candidate Robert Jenrick, who joined Reform earlier in the week.
Rosindell, 59, joined the Conservative Party at the age of 14 and has served as an MP since 2001. He had been part of the Conservatives’ foreign policy team.
Announcing his resignation “with sorrow”, Rosindell said: “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.”
“Both the government and the opposition (Conservatives) have been complicit in the surrender of this sovereign British territory to a foreign power,” he said.
Rosindell was referring to a deal agreed by the Labour government, led by prime minister Keir Starmer, to hand the Chagos Islands to Mauritius while allowing Britain to retain control of a US-UK military base on Diego Garcia under a 99-year lease.
“It is clear to me that Reform UK is now the only political movement that is genuinely willing to fight for the best interests of the United Kingdom,” Rosindell added.
His move gives Reform UK seven seats in the 650-seat parliament. The party has been leading by double-digit figures in opinion polls for the past year, ahead of a national election due in 2029.
Nigel Farage, leader of Reform, said in a statement that Rosindell would be “a great addition to our team”.
A Conservative Party source told the PA news agency: “Reform are welcome to him.”
(With inputs from agencies)
