UK populist Reform party attracts latest Conservative defector

LONDON, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Britain's populist Reform UK party won another defector from the country's once dominant Conservative Party on Sunday, attracting lawmaker Andrew Rosindell, part of the Conservatives' foreign policy team, who said it was time "to put country before party".

With Reform UK well ahead in the opinion polls before a national election due in 2029, Rosindell is one of more than 20 serving or former Conservative lawmakers to switch to the party led by veteran Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage. His move gives Reform seven seats in the 650-seat parliament.

Rosindell announced his resignation from his position and from the party "with sorrow" on X, saying "the failure of the Conservative Party both when in government and more recently in opposition" to challenge Prime Minister Keir Starmer's decision to cede sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius was "a clear red line for me".

"Both the government and the opposition (Conservatives) have been complicit in the surrender of this sovereign British territory to a foreign power," he said.

The Chagos deal allows Britain to retain control of a strategically important U.S.-UK air base on Diego Garcia, the largest island of the archipelago in the Indian Ocean, under a 99-year lease.

Farage, who welcomed former Conservative leadership candidate Robert Jenrick to his party on Thursday, said in a statement that Rosindell would be "a great addition to our team".

(Reporting by Elizabeth Piper; Editing by Paul Simao)