Andrea Jenkyns Is Now Reform UK’s First Mayor – Here Are Her Most Unforgettable Moments

Dame Andrea Jenkyns, Reform UK Mayor of Greater Lincolnshire speaks on stageFormer Tory minister Dame Andrea Jenkyns just won the Greater Lincolnshire mayoral contest.That means she has become Reform UK’s first mayor, beating the Tories’ Rob Waltham by nearly 40,000 votes.Her success was widely expected – YouGovpredicted last week that the prominent Brexiteer would win with 40% of the vote share – but it does mean politics may be about to get a bit more lively.Jenkyns, who was made a Dame in Boris Johnson’s resignation honours only to lose her Tory seat in the July 2024 election to Labour, is now on the national stage again.But why is she already such a well-known name within political circles? Here’s a look at some of her most viral moments.When she did a complete U-turn over joining Reform UKIn September, she posted a video on X from the Reform UK party conference saying she would not be defecting.She said: “I’m a former Tory MP, I’m not defecting. I’m on a press pass and I’m keen to find out what it’s all about. Is this the true home of conservatism and why have we lost so many members to the Reform party.”Two months later, in November, Jenkyns announced she was officially joining Reform UK.She told reporters she had been “tempted” to join before the general election, but “I am a loyal person to a party” and so held out until she felt the Tories had “become tired”.When she had an awkward clash with her own team member on Have I Got News For YouJenkyns accused the BBC of selecting a bias audience when she appeared on Ian Hislop’s team in October last year – causing a spat with her team mate.It began when she claimed Boris Johnson was “one of our better prime ministers” – triggering a wave of boos from the audience.She replied: “I see you’ve selected the audience to people who don’t like Boris or Conservatives.”As the crowd laughed, Hislop hit back: “You can’t just say, ‘you’ve selected the audience’. You’ve got no evidence for that! No proof, it’s just bollocks. This isn’t GB News!”We're back tonight at 9pm on BBC One & iPlayer with host @amolrajan joined by @andreajenkyns and Miles Jupp! pic.twitter.com/XKJL10S4Fm— Have I Got News For You (@haveigotnews) October 11, 2024When she denied the Tories had any responsibility for the far-right riotsLast August, BBC Newsnight host Katie Razzall pointed to the Tories’ anti-immigration policies as a cause for the far-right riots which broke out less than a month after the Conservatives left government.She said to Jenkyns: “People are tracing a direct line from your government’s rhetoric to the violence we’re seeing.”But the ex-MP replied: “I think people have got short memories.”Razzell pointed out that Jenkyns herself has said “illegal immigration represents an existential threat” while former Tory home secretary Suella Braverman spoke about an invasion of Channel migrants – and Jenkyns backed her with it.The ex-minister insisted: “I’ve got no problem with legal migration.” When she suggested banning primary school sex educationSpeaking in parliament in March 2024, she said: “As the mother of a primary-age schoolchild, I do not want him or other children, straight or gay, to learn about sex full stop.“I also do not want to see young children in primary school to be taught about changing gender.”She added that she has “no problem with whatever people want to do when they are older” but “we need to protect the innocence of children and their childhood”.When she was accused of trying to interfere with a Commons investigation into Boris Johnson Jenkyns, along with nine other Tory MPs, was accused by a Commons investigation of trying to disrupt the partygate probe looking into whether he misled Parliament over Covid breaches in No.10.The report from the cross-party Privileges Committee said allies of the former PM had launched “vociferous attacks” on its work. When she promised to crack down on ‘Harry Potter Studies’Speaking at a fringe even at the 2022 Conservative Party conference, the-then education minister said education is not the “sole preserve” of universities.She said a “skilled modern economy” needs technical skills just as much as it needs graduates, and claimed the “current system” favoured degrees in “Harry Potter studies”.Jenkyns was swiftly reminded on social media that there are zero degrees in Harry Potter studies in the UK.When she flipped the bird outside Downing StreetJenkyns was filmed giving the middle finger to protesters outside the prime minister’s official residence in 2022 when then-PM Boris Johnson resigned.According to people present, she also said: “Those who laugh last, laugh loudest. Wait and see!”Jenkyns had just been appointed her as parliamentary under-secretary of state at the department for education at the time, following a wave of ministerial resignations as dozens of Tory MPs pressured Johnson to quit.Jenkyns was then reappointed under his successor Liz Truss.Jenkyns later told Have I Got News For You that at the time she just thought “sod you” to the protesters who had “got what you wanted” after Johnson did quit.She added: “The funny thing is I don’t really swear, I don’t really use my fingers!”Is it too much to ask in @BorisJohnson Britain that the new Education Minister set an example to our nations children and not show the general public her middle finger. pic.twitter.com/MHlkZvIIBL— David Lammy (@DavidLammy) July 8, 2022Related...Nigel Farage Accused Of Being 'Stuck In The 70s' Over Comments About Women In The WorkplaceFarage Slammed Over 1 'Wildly Inaccurate' Claim About Children's HealthCan Nigel Farage Break Down Labour's Re-Built Red Wall – Or Will Voters 'Smell His Bull****'?

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Andrea Jenkyns Could Be Reform UK’s First Mayor – Here Are Her Most Unforgettable Moments

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