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WATCH: Reform would never 'get into bed' with the Tories, Andrea Jenkyns tells GB News
Dec 3, 2025
Dame Andrea Jenkyns has shut down reports of a possible merger between Reform UK and the Conservatives, branding the claims "ludicrous".Speaking to GB News, the Reform Mayor for Greater Lincolnshire denied any such discussion of a merger and accused the Tories of "planting" the story.FULL STORY HERE.
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0:00
Splashed on the front page of the Financial Times, the extraordinary claim that Nigel Farage told potential donors that he would do a deal with the Tory party in the run-up to the election to try to ensure victory
0:13
Now, Nigel Farage has categorically denied those claims. He took to Twitter. He posted a false story in the FT tonight
0:21
Claims reform would do a deal with the Tories. After 14 years of dishonesty and lies, they should never be forgiven. The idea I'd work with them is ludicrous
0:29
So let's see what Dame Andrea Jenkins makes it. She's the Mayor of Greater Lincolnshire, a Reform UK board member and a former Tory MP too. Dame Andrea, lovely to see you. Good morning. How are you
0:40
And you as well. All good, thank you. How are you both? Very good. Now, Nigel Farage is emphatic. The Financial Times story, he says, is not true. What do you say
0:50
Completely agree, Andrew. I mean, isn't it funny how they don't name who this donor is, etc
0:58
I was in the Whip's office and I saw how stories can get planted from Whip's offices
1:06
CCHQ press teams to try and actually put pressure on opposition parties
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And this is what I believe is happening here. Do you suspect the Tories have planted this story
1:17
We are doing so ahead in the polls. What, 150 polls consecutive
1:24
We was ahead, et cetera. So we're going to get lots of this as we get narrow to the election
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and as we get narrow where it looks like Nigel's going to get into number 10
1:35
So this is, I think, personally a planted story. I'm on the board, reform board
1:41
This has never been discussed. We do not need the Conservative Party
1:45
And it's quite ludicrous. Why would we get into bed with a party who is so far behind
1:50
If the polls narrow Dom Andrew nobody wants nobody in reform will want to see the Tory and reform candidates split the vote and let Labour come through the middle Is that when there could potentially be a pact No Remember I came on your show before the election last year Andrew
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the general election. And at the time, I was Conservative and I wanted to see a pact. I thought
2:15
it was the only way to stop the Labour majority. But having been on the inside of reform, I mean
2:20
in my election alone, we was pulling votes from both Labour and the Conservatives. And that's
2:26
quite unheard of. I think the last time anybody did that, it was like Margaret Thatcher, wasn't it
2:30
actually? You know, as in to pull from the left and the right, wasn't she? She pulled from Labour
2:34
as well. Now, reform of pulling from Labour and the Conservatives. I had farmers helping me. I had
2:42
the coastal areas and traditional Labour towns of Skunthorpe. I had a good support there, etc
2:50
So we do not need them. We are ahead of the polls. I believe that will continue. And 14 years of the Conservatives. I left because I actually thought that we didn't do a good enough job. We was never conservative enough
3:06
And I think just because Kemi does one good time at the dispatch box, let's not forget she was a minister for several years
3:14
She shouldn't have needed a year to find a feat. She's been at the dispatch box so many times
3:19
Then I don't think that the Conservatives are going to go much further ahead in the polls
3:25
Do you think Reform Party voters, let alone members, Dame Andrew, would feel put out or betrayed even if you did do a deal with the Tories
3:34
because a lot of them will be voting reform because you're not the Tories
3:40
Yes, absolutely. And also, this is why we need to be careful, Andrew, of any defections
3:46
I mean, the article in The Telegraph was spot on yesterday where it said that people who want to defect
3:53
they can't expect to get a seat. We going to be very choosy of who we take And because let face it we don want to be Conservatives mark two We want to be far better far stronger and come up with really strong policies that
4:11
going to save Britain. Now, the momentum in terms of the polling is clearly with reform, but on donations
4:18
it's a bit of a different story. Plenty of donors are still sticking with the Conservatives
4:22
despite them being at just 17, 18 percent in the polls. And we've seen consistently
4:26
over the last year, Conservatives raising more money than reform. Why do you think it is
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And what do you think reform needs to do to win those donors over? Yeah, I mean, the figures are slightly flawed
4:37
because you do get certain funding when you're an opposition party, don't you
4:41
You're the opposition, legal opposition, et cetera, his Manchester's opposition. So, look, if we're talking about funding
4:52
I've never had so much support. Remember, you was a marginal seat, Miriam
4:56
I was a marginal seat under the Conservatives for nine years. And you get very little support
5:02
My election was fully funded. We've got a war chest for the up-and-coming Welsh elections
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We're doing pretty good. But let's not forget, Conservative HQ, they've lost their main offices
5:19
They've had to downsize. They've had to close a regional office in Leeds
5:23
They've got rid of a lot of staff. So what it looks like on paper isn't necessarily mean that they're fully operational
5:31
I mean, Reform UK, the head office is thriving, it's growing. So I think proof's in the pudding, actually
5:39
How are you getting on with local councils, your council saving money, Dem Andrew
5:44
You had that unit called Doge, Department of Government Efficiency. there were some suggestions that um yes the councils the officers who are paid civil servants
5:55
effectively not the councillors have been resisting all efforts by reform to get these
5:59
doge units in how it going in your part of lincolnshire yeah i mean bear in mind i separate in the fact that I a brand new combined authority So what I doing I getting a handle on things
6:09
myself. I have the P&L every month. I look on the bottom
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line what's going out. I question, I push back and say I'm not allowing this and that
6:18
I spoke to our council leader we meet weekly, Sean, and we've got, he's working very closely
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with Richard, who's now our Doge ambassador. and of looking at savings
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So it's not a necessarily sensational level, which we've seen in the past where we're grabbing headlines
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but we are diligently working in the background, working with council leaders to look at savings
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So it is going on. And looking ahead to the next election
6:50
obviously reform will be looking to select candidates in, I assume, all or the vast majority of seats in the United Kingdom
6:57
That's 650 candidates that you need to find. Are you concerned that if a form was to win a majority
7:05
so few of those candidates potentially would have parliamentary experience? It'd actually be quite difficult to govern, at least in the first few years
7:13
If you look at this government, some has had experience in government
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Look at our previous government, we was part of it. You had good ministers, you had rubbish ministers
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But what we're trying to do is actually bring people from industry, as Nigel said in his speech, that we want people from the different industry sectors to come in into a department to stand and have that experience
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So it's going to be done different this time. And I think that's what we need
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You know, we want people running the education department who's been in education
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We want people who's run great multimillion pound businesses, what they've started from a startup, small SME, to be our business secretary
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So we are getting people from the different industry sectors. We're encouraging them to be MPs
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So we've got life experience. And I think it's a far stronger way to govern
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