CRUMBRIA: 19/05/2025: EXCLUSIVE
EX-MP Mark Jenkinson has tonight announced he will not, repeat not, defect to Reform UK.
The straight-talking, no-frills, former Workington MP had been seen by many as a likely candidate for Reform UK, given his past association with UKIP, and his general willingness not to call a spade a long-handled digging implement.
But in a rousing speech to himself on the Conservative Home website tonight that’s generated a lot of comments, the former Workington MP reassured readers he remains a True Conservative™.
He cited his belief in liberty, free markets, and allowing Kemi Badenoch to continue to beat the dead chest of a party flatlining in the polls.
Jenkinson insists Reform UK is just UKIP’s haunted carcass reanimated by Nigel Farage. He even calls some senior figures in the party “frauds”.
“They’ve got Labour councillors, lefty taxes, Marbella millionaires,” he warned.
Despite having “deep, personal experience” of Reform’s leadership, Jenkinson cautioned voters against “emotional decisions” like voting for parties that presumably sound, er, exciting, united, and coherent.
Instead, he urged readers to “hold your nerve” and effectively wait for the Conservative Party to stop imploding.
While the former MP’s blind loyalty to the Party and its leader is all very admirable, millions no longer know (or care) what the point of the Tories is after, er, 14 years at the controls where they could never be accused of covering themselves in glory.
“We just need a reset, reboot, and a time machine,” he might as well have written, adding: “Kemi has the screwdriver.”
From a standing start last year, Reform UK came third and 7,100 votes or so behind Mr Jenkinson at the General Election 2024.
It’ll be a tad closer in 2029!
Read the full piece here: I’m often asked why I haven’t defected to Reform, having once joined UKIP. Here’s why I won’t.
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