The British Conservative Party is bleeding. Veteran Romford MP Andrew Rosindell has become the latest high-profile figure to defect to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, citing the "surrender" of the Chagos Islands as the final straw.

Rosindell accused his former party of being complicit in handing over sovereign territory to Mauritius, a move he termed a betrayal of national interests. His defection boosts Reform UK’s parliamentary presence to seven, signaling a fracturing of the British right wing that could keep the Labour government comfortably in power for years.