Who is Andrea Jenkyns? Former Greggs worker and Miss UK finalist, representing Reform UK, becomes mayor of Greater Lincolnshire - why is she a Dame?

She has become Reform UK’s first mayor. In her victory speech, she declared it was a "new dawn in British politics" and vowed Reform would "reset Britain to its glorious past".

She beat the Conservative candidate by more than 40,000 votes. A former Greggs worker and Miss UK finalist, Dame Andrea will now control an annual budget of £24m and hold powers over skills, transport and economic development in the region.

She said: “The fightback to save the heart and soul of our great country has now begun. Now that Reform is in a place of power, we can help start rebuilding Britain. Inch by inch, Reform will reset Britain to its glorious past.

“We will tackle illegal migration. We’ve been working on policies. I say no to putting people in hotels. Tents are good enough for France, they should be good enough for here in Britain.”

Andrea Jenkyns was born just across the Humber Bridge in Beverley, near Hull, in 1974. Her family moved to Lincolnshire when she was seven years old, and she lists New Holland, East Halton and Healing as some of the places she lived.

After leaving school, she went straight into work at Greggs bakery. She worked her way up through retail over the next 15 years to become a senior manager.

Her passion for music led her to become an amateur soprano singer. She has even co-written and released her own classical album, Andrea. She once performed for the former Prime Minister of Pakistan, and also tutored music part-time in secondary schools.

In her thirties, she retrained and completed degrees in International Relations at the University of Lincoln and economics from the Open University. Her political career began in 2009 when she was elected to Lincolnshire County Council as a Conservative, representing Boston North West.

She narrowly beat the BNP (British National Party), but lost the seat in the next election to Reform's predecessor Ukip. Shortly after, she was selected as the Tory candidate to take on Labour's Ed Balls in the West Yorkshire seat of Morley and Outwood.

Her early time in Parliament was dominated by the issue of Brexit, with Ms Jenkyns a strong Leave supporter. In 2017, she married fellow Conservative MP Jack Lopresti. Their son Clifford was born on the day that Article 50 to leave the EU was triggered, earning him the nickname 'Brexit Clifford'.

Ms Jenkyns became an ally of new PM Boris Johnson and briefly served as the Secretary of State for Skills and Education. Johnson appointed her a Dame in his resignation honours.

She lost her seat to Labour in the 2024 General Election, with her share of the vote tumbling from 56 to 23 per cent, and only just beating Reform. In November 2024 Nigel Farage announced that she had defected to Reform and would stand as the party's Mayoral candidate in Lincolnshire. She accused the Conservative county council of wasteful spending and promised to set up a 'DOGE' (Department of Government Efficiency) similar to Elon Musk's in the US.