Mr Jenkins insisted the Conservative Party, of which he was a member of parliament before losing his seat in July, had now “lost its way” and stressed it would not be easy for him to leave a party he had “cherished for decades”.
“I have long believed in conservatism and the principles it stands for,” she said.
“I fought loyally until the end in the general election, but I fell on the fast track. But the truth is undeniable. The ship is sinking and, sadly, may not be salvageable. “That’s enough.”
Jenkyns is entering the race to run the Greater Lincolnshire Combined Authority, a massive new local government body that will be given real funding powers by the Labor government in Westminster.
Jenkins’ former party was ousted in the July general election, and the Conservatives’ vote share in the House of Commons fell to its lowest ever. Meanwhile, reforms are on the rise. The election brought back five MPs, Farage himself took a seat in the House of Commons for the first time, and he now turns his attention to the ruling Labor Party.
“I was elected as a Conservative and I lost out as a Conservative, but unfortunately I think the party is tired,” Jenkins said on Thursday.
