Dame Andrea Jenkyns has officially been declared as Reform UK’s first-ever elected mayor after Lincolnshire became swept up by the populist party’s turquoise tidal wave.
The ex-Conservative Minister, who defected to Reform UK last year, received widespread support in the once-true blue Tory heartland.
In her declaration speech, Jenkyns swiped at her rivals after accusing them of carrying out a “smear campaign”.
Reform appeared confident of victory in the early hours of Friday morning, with strong showings in Boston and South Holland cementing Jenkyns’s position in Yellowbelly county.
The former Boris Johnson loyalist defeated her Tory rival Rob Waltham and Labour candidate Jason Stockwood after a tough campaign.
Jenkyns had accused her rivals of conducting a “smear campaign” amid an eventually cleared probe into the 50-year-old’s living arrangements.
However, Reform UK’s deputy leader Richard Tice appeared confident about Jenkyns’s chances well before the official declaration in Grimsby.
The Boston & Skegness MP told GB News: “I’m totally confident that Andrea Jenkyns, who ran a brilliant campaign, despite being smeared, is going to win this hands down.
“That will be an outstanding result and also what we’re seeing of the county council seats, the piles that are emerging up and down the county, we are very enthused by how that looks as well.
“This is a pretty remarkable achievement in one of the safest Tory shires, we could be looking at a very, very seismic shift.”
