A spectacular new defection in the British Conservatives: an MP from the traditional right announced yesterday Sunday that he is joining Nigel Farage‘s party Reform UK, just 24 hours after he took the same route baron of the party.

Andrew Rosidel has been elected to the British parliament under the colours of the Tories for nearly 25 years.

He joins some twenty Conservative figures who have jumped into the ranks of Reform UK, which polls want to dominate in terms of voting intentions ahead of the country’s next general election in 2029.

“Since joining the Conservative party at the age of 14, I have been a loyal and committed supporter of the principles espoused by Margaret Thatcher, as they have always been the bedrock of my own political beliefs,” the MP and shadow Tory foreign secretary said via X, adding, however, that “it is time to put country before party.”

According to him, “Reform UK is now the only political movement that is truly willing to fight for the interests” of Britain.

He thus follows in the footsteps of Robert Jenrick MP and shadow Tory justice minister, who announced on Thursday that he was joining Nigel Farage’s party. The former Conservative baron was, hours before his defection, put out of the party because of rumours of his defection.

The Conservatives, in power in Britain for 14 years, suffered a heavy defeat to Labour in the July 2024 general election and since then many of their prominent figures, especially MPs, have moved to Reform UK.