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".

She said: “I have fought many elections, four general elections, my third local election, but I’m going to be brief with this don’t worry, I’ve never experienced such negativity and soul-destroying campaigns against me like this one.

"It was soul-destroying. The dirty tricks in the US politics I now believe is being imported into Britain.

“The Conservatives called the police on me and implied I slept with political friends. They contacted the mainstream media to smear me.

"The independent’s husband pushed for a hearing at the council, my barrister had to represent me. The case was dismissed.”

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.

Speaking as the count was going on, Reform UK’s deputy leader Richard Tice 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.”