Andrea Jenkyns responds to ‘bizarre’ BBC comments about being a ‘former Greggs worker’: ‘I was 16!’
Reform UK’s Andrea Jenkyns has described the BBC’s reference to her as a “former Greggs worker” as “just bizarre”.
The comments came after the BBC faced criticism for its description of Jenkyns following her election as Reform UK’s first-ever mayor in Greater Lincolnshire.
The BBC’s Politics account had posted a tweet referring to Jenkyns as “the former Greggs worker and Miss UK finalist” after her election victory and despite her political career.
Speaking about the headline on GB News, Camilla Tominey said: “Should I be referring to Andrea as a former Greggs worker? Oh, no. We’re not the BBC here. What did you make of that?”
Jenkyns responded: “I found it quite bizarre because I was just a Saturday kid when I was 16.”
Camilla joked: “I know. Well, it was quite a while ago. I thought we may as well refer to Kemi Badenoch as a former McDonald’s worker. I mean, I once worked at Waitrose, would you believe, maybe that should be in my CV?”
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The description sparked immediate controversy across social media.
Critics questioned why the broadcaster highlighted these aspects of her background rather than her political experience as a former Conservative MP and minister.
The post received more than 775,000 views by Friday afternoon, with numerous users condemning it as “snide” and “belittling”.
One user directly questioned the BBC’s intent behind highlighting her past employment and beauty pageant participation instead of her extensive political career.
Jenkyns secured a decisive victory in the Lincolnshire mayoral race, receiving 104,133 votes.
This put her approximately 40,000 ballots ahead of Conservative candidate Rob Waltham.
Labour’s Jason Stockwood trailed even further behind, with Jenkyns leading him by around 60,000 votes.
The 50-year-old’s win represents a significant breakthrough for Reform UK in what was previously considered a Conservative stronghold.
In her victory speech, Jenkyns declared it was “a new dawn in British politics” and promised that Reform would “reset Britain to its glorious past”.
The BBC subsequently removed the controversial post from its social media accounts.
In a statement, the broadcaster acknowledged: “We acknowledge the tone of the post was wrong, and it has been taken down.”