Latest right-wing defector is a new low, even for Farage

It’s a saying that Nigel Farage would do well to observe, or not.

- CHRIS BLACKHURST

Does the Reform UK leader really care what others think? Does he sincerely believe, for instance, that Andrew Rosindell is a fine addition to the party roster? The former shadow minister and MP for Romford is not somebody that the Tories, even in their present predicament, should miss. If Robert Jenrick has “something of the night about him”, as was said about by Ann Widdecombe about Michael Howard and has been repeated in relation to the former shadow justice secretary’s defection, then the latest Reform adornment inhabits a very dark space indeed.

Rosindell has chosen to major on the Tories’ lack of support for the Chagos Islanders as forcing him out. That’s what Farage also focused on, saying: “The Tories’ lies and hypocrisy over the Chagos Islands betrayal has tipped him over the edge, and we are delighted to welcome him to our ranks.” All very upstanding, as Rosindell accused the government and main opposition of having “been complicit in the surrender of this sovereign British territory to a foreign power”.

What Farage chose to ignore is the rest of Rosindell that ought to make any seeker of the highest office in the land think twice about welcoming him. It is a residue from a heap of right-wing detritus, an indelible stain that, no matter how hard Rosindell or his new leader tries, cannot be scrubbed clean. Rosindell represents a new low, even for Farage and Reform.