Dame Andrea Marie JenkynsDBE (born 16 June 1974) is a British news and current affairs journalist for GB News[2] and a politician who served as the Conservative Member of Parliament for Morley and Outwood in West Yorkshire, England from 2015 to June 2024.
Jenkyns was made Dame of the British Empire by 2022 outgoing UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
She left the Conservative Party for Reform UK in November 2024, announcing her candidacy for Reform in the 2025 election for the newly created Mayor of Greater Lincolnshire.[8]
In the 2017 general election, Jenkyns increased her vote share by 11.8%, though only increased her majority to 2,104 as Labour's vote share also increased. Both were helped by the lack of a UKIP candidate in her constituency.[18]
Jenkyns is a Trustee and the voluntary Regional Representative for the charity MRSA Action UK, having joined following the death of her father from MRSA.[19][11]
In July 2018, after David Davis resigned from the Cabinet, Jenkyns called for the Prime Minister Theresa May to be replaced, saying: "Theresa May's premiership is over."[21][22] She called on the Prime Minister to return to her Lancaster House speech, stating "Prime Ministers keep their jobs when they keep their promises".[23]
She submitted a formal letter to the 1922 Committee requesting a vote of no confidence in Theresa May as leader of the Conservative Party; at that time letters from 48 MPs were required to trigger a vote of no confidence.[24] Following this, Iain Dale put her on his annual Top 100 Most Influential Conservatives of 2018 List.[25]
In May 2019, Jenkyns received media attention for her appearance on the BBC's Politics Live show, as she was unable to name any countries that trade solely with the EU using World Trade Organization (WTO) terms.[26]
In 2019, Jenkyns received a campaign donation declared at £2,000 from the Brexit advocate and Leave.EU funder Arron Banks.[27] Banks was barred from membership of the Conservative Party at the time, on the grounds that he had advocated entryism.[27] Jenkyns has received a number of death threats, largely as a result of her stance on Brexit.[28] In October 2019 she discovered graffiti on the wall of her office calling for her to kill herself.[28] In the summer of 2019, a person was taken to court for threatening to "rip" her face off.[28] In 2018, she received a threatening and sexually explicit email calling for her to be cut with barbed wire and die.[28]
Jenkyns is opposed to Britain's sugary drink tax, arguing instead for "better education, better labelling [and] parental responsibility".[29]
Jenkyns held her seat at the 2019 general election with an increased majority of 11,267.[14] Jenkyns claimed to have experienced a considerable amount of abuse and intimidation during the campaign.[30] After the election, she was elected Vice-Chair of the European Research Group, replacing Steve Baker, who became the Chair.[31]
In February 2020, Jenkyns defended her decision to provide a character reference for the court case of a Conservative Party activist who made violent threats to Labour MP Yvette Cooper and was subsequently jailed for nine weeks. The statement described the activist as a "decent and honest person whose heart is in the right place". Jenkyns said that the activist had mental health issues and she wanted his emotional and mental well-being to be taken into consideration as part of the judicial process.[32]
In July 2022, Jenkyns was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Education.[34] On the way to attending Boris Johnson's resignation speech in Downing Street, Jenkyns was filmed making a "middle finger" gesture at protesters.[35] Jenkyns said she made the gesture after being provoked by a "baying mob", stating she had received "huge amounts of abuse from some of the people who were there over the years". She said she should have shown more composure "but is only human". Her gesture was criticised by teaching representatives and by Conservative MPs Mark Spencer and George Freeman.[36] On 12 July 2022, her portfolio was confirmed as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Skills, Further and Higher Education. She was reappointed by prime minister Liz Truss,[37] but left her role when Rishi Sunak replaced Truss 49 days later.[38]
Jenkyns lost her seat in parliament in the general election of 4 July 2024, receiving 9,258 votes against Labour's Mark Sewards with 17,681.[40]
Post-Parliamentary career
On 28 November 2024, Jenkyns announced that she had left the Conservative Party and joined Reform UK, at a press conference with leader Nigel Farage, and would stand as the Reform candidate for the new mayorship of Greater Lincolnshire.[41][42][43]
In March 2024, Jenkyns revealed to GB News that she had been targeted with abusive emails, with the most recent threatening her six-year-old son. The police have been advising her on improved security and are investigating the source of the anonymous communication.[53]
In April 2024, she announced via Twitter that she and Lopresti had divorced.[54]
Jenkyns is a vegetarian and supports improvement of animal rights. She also supports keeping the ban on fox hunting.[11] In 2015, her dogs Lady and Godiva won top prize in the Westminster Dog of the Year show.[57]
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