Lee Anderson: Thank You, Kemi Badenoch.

I am proud and delighted to be reunited with Robert Jenrick as a friend and neighbouring Reform MP. He brings with him real conviction, and a wealth of experience in Government that will help Reform UK fix this country after the next General Election.

Lee Anderson and Robert Jenrick, reunited in Reform UK

My history with him goes back to before I became Ashfield's MP when I was just a candidate in 2019. From then, Robert Jenrick, who was the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government at the time, was one of the main figures who I was lobbying for the many millions of pounds of funding that Ashfield received during the last Parliament. The £62.6 million Towns Fund, the £6.27 million Future High Streets Fund, the £3.2 million UKSPF funding, and more. It is the most cash injected into the area that it has ever seen before, and we both played a significant part in bringing this investment into Ashfield.

Lee Anderson and Robert Jenrick meeting in 2021 to discuss investment in Ashfield

Over the years I have come to consider Rob as a friend, and I know personally from conversations with him how he struggled with the Conservative Party, as I did nearly two years ago. The residents of Nottinghamshire have all gone on a very similar political journey. But our morals and beliefs have not changed at all, the political parties have. So now we are reunited in supporting Reform UK as the driving force that will get our country back and fix it. Labour and Conservatives have blown all of their chances, and they have shown that they can never be trusted to govern again.

So, I want to say thank you to Kemi Badenoch for making this happen and reuniting Robert and I as friends and colleagues. Despite his mind not having been totally made up about defecting to Reform UK, she forced Rob's hand. In doing so, she has handed us the most popular figure left in the Conservative Party, just months before the local elections in May. I think the Conservative Party's collapse is now inevitable, and it will soon cease to be a national political party. Reform UK has already filled the void as the party of the right, we are the only credible party left to take on Labour, and this is our last chance to save Britain.

I wholeheartedly welcome Robert Jenrick into the party as the 2nd Reform MP in the Nottinghamshire county of common sense. He believes in what we are doing at Reform UK, and with his wealth of experience in Government positions, I have no doubt that he will make significant contributions to the party as well as to the country. The British people clearly agree, because Reform UK membership has surged once again since he has joined the People's Army. Welcome, Rob.