Robert Jenrick defects to Reform after Tory axe

Robert Jenrick has defected to Reform UK after being sacked from the Tory frontbench by Kemi Badenoch because of “irrefutable evidence that he was plotting” to jump ship in a “damaging” way.

Mr Jenrick launched a scathing attack at his former party at a press conference alongside Reform leader Nigel Farage, saying the Conservatives “don’t have the stomach for the radical change this country needs”.

He said: “I can’t kid myself any more.

“The party hasn’t changed and it won’t.

“The bulk of the party don’t get it. Don’t have the stomach for the radical change this country needs.”

Mr Farage joked he would “buy Kemi lunch next week and say thank you”, as he confirmed Mr Jenrick was joining his party.

“I’ve had to think very quickly as to how I should respond to this, and I just want to say thank you to Kemi Badenoch, this is the latest Christmas present I’ve ever had,” the Reform UK leader told a Thursday afternoon Westminster press conference.

“The negotiations with Jenrick are over. There’s nothing more to be said or to be done.

“You’ve handed me on a plate the man that is by far the most popular figure, 60% approval rating on ConHome…

“You’ve perhaps today, really done anything more than anybody in history to help realign the centre-right of British politics, which is much needed against a dreadful Labour Government and increasingly worrying extreme left-wing voice in this country.

“So I can’t offer you drinks all round, but I’ll buy Kemi lunch next week and say thank you.

“And on that note, I will welcome Robert Jenrick into this room and into Reform UK.”

Decline

After an awkward delay, Newark MP Mr Jenrick appeared at the press conference and said: “It’s time for the truth. Britain has been in decline. Britain is in decline.”

He hit out at rising migration, the backlog in the courts, “overflowing” prisons and the small size of the army.

Mr Jenrick said: “Both Labour and the Conservatives broke Britain, and both are now dominated by those without the competence or the backbone needed to fix it.

“Both parties, if judged by their own actions, are committed to a set of ideas that have failed and are failing Britain. Labour started mass migration, but the Conservatives ramped it up after 2019.”

‘Irrefutable evidence’ 

Conservative leader Mrs Badenoch earlier said she had sacked Mr Jenrick from the shadow cabinet, removed the whip and suspended his party membership.

She said: “I was presented with clear, irrefutable evidence that he was plotting in secret to defect in a way designed to be as damaging as possible to his shadow cabinet colleagues and the wider Conservative Party.”

During the lengthy delay between Mr Farage announcing Mr Jenrick had joined the party and the ex-Tory’s arrival on the stage at the Westminster press conference, the Reform leader quipped: “Kemi hasn’t called him and asked him back.”

Moments before the start of the Reform press conference, the Conservatives released “extracts” of a speech they said was the evidence of the ex-shadow justice secretary’s planned defection.

Toxic comments

A Tory source said Robert Jenrick was late to the stage at his defection press conference because he was rewriting his speech to take out the parts they had released to the media.

Mrs Badenoch has announced that West Sussex Tory MP Nick Timothy, a former Home Office adviser to Theresa May, is taking on the Newark MP’s former shadow cabinet role.

Sir Keir Starmer earlier questioned why it took “so long” for Mrs Badenoch to sack Mr Jenrick, whom the Prime Minister accused of making “toxic comments to try and divide our country”.

Commenting, Welsh Liberal Democrats Leader Jane Dodds MS said: “Robert Jenrick’s defection is not an isolated incident; it’s a symptom of a Conservative Party that is visibly falling apart. The spotlight will now fall on those in the Senedd who have aligned themselves with him and his politics, and whether more are preparing to jump ship.

“But the defection gets to the heart of what is wrong with Reform. They claim they want to fix our broken country, but are made up almost entirely of those who broke it in the first place.

“For centrist, pro-business voters in Wales, this moment is a wake-up call. The Conservatives are all but gone, while Reform offers nothing but division and uncertainty. If you believe in a strong private sector, responsible government and an economy that works for Wales without lurching to the extremes, the Welsh Liberal Democrats are the clear alternative.”