Former Tory minister Dame Andrea Jenkyns is widely expected to secure the Greater Lincolnshire mayoral contest, according to pollsters.
YouGov experts believe she prominent Brexiter has a 15-point lead over her rivals in the contest, shooting ahead with 40% of the vote share.
That puts the ex-Conservative MP comfortably ahead of the Conservatives’ Rob Waltham, who is on 25%, and Labour’s Jason Stockwood, who is on 15%.
Jenkyns – who was made a Dame in Boris Johnson’s resignation honours – lost her Tory seat in the July 2024 election to Labour.
But it’s clear she could be on the cusp of returning to mainstream politics with Nigel Farage.
So just why is she 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 UK
In 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 You
Jenkyns 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!”
When she denied the Tories had any responsibility for the far-right riots
Last 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 Tories 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 education
Speaking 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 Street
Jenkyns 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!”
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