Rachel Johnson joins Liberal Democrats, although two of her brothers are Conservative ministers

Journalist, author and TV presenter Rachel Johnson has joined the Liberal Democrats, motivated by a desire to stop Brexit.

Unusually amongst the thousands of new members to have joined the party recently, she has two Conservative government ministers as her brothers: Boris and Jo Johnson. She was previously a member of the Conservative Party herself 2008-11.

With a couple of winnable constituencies in the West Country (Bath and Yeovil) in search of new candidates after the timing of the snap election turned out to be very problematic for the previous candidates, there’s been inevitable speculation that she might run for Parliament herself this time. However, the party’s rules in England requiring someone to be a member for a year before being able to stand on the Lib Dem behalf in a general election are likely to sink any such ideas.

Fancy joining her? Find out about how to join the Liberal Democrats here.