4 min read
Robert Jenrick’s decision to ditch the Tories for Reform UK has sent shockwaves through British politics.
On Thursday morning, Westminster, including the vast majority of the Conservative Party, was stunned when Kemi Badenoch announced on X that she had sacked Jenrick from his role as shadow justice secretary, removed the Tory whip from him, and ripped up the Newark MP’s party membership.
In a bombshell video statement, the Leader of the Opposition said she had received “clear, irrefutable evidence that he [Jenrick] 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”.
About five-and-a-half hours later, forced into an earlier-than-planned announcement, Jenrick was standing alongside Reform leader Nigel Farage at the party’s Westminster headquarters, confirming his defection and launching a series of extraordinary attacks on his former party. He admitted that he first reached out to Farage in September, four months before his unveiling today.
“The [Conservative] 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,” declared Jenrick.
Farage predicted that his defection would go down as a “big, big moment”.
Very few outside of Badenoch’s closest circle knew that her announcement was coming before it was posted online this morning.
In a series of events described to PoliticsHome by sources familiar with them, last night, screenshots of Jenrick’s defection letter and media strategy were handed to Badenoch’s office. Her team had obtained incriminating material but didn’t know for sure when he would pull the trigger. They agreed there was a strong chance that he would be unveiled at a Farage press conference on Thursday, so decided to go public the next morning.
Tory chairman Kevin Hollinrake has said it was a member of Jenrick’s “inner circle” who leaked the documents to Badenoch’s office. Jenrick refused to answer directly when asked at today’s press conference how the material had ended up in Badenoch’s possession.
The Tory chief whip, Rebecca Harris, broke the news to Jenrick in a phone call before Badenoch’s announcement was posted online, and then removed him from the Conservative MP WhatsApp group. Tory WhatsApp groups were quiet as the day progressed, PoliticsHome understands — perhaps a sign of a party in shock.
As for Jenrick, PoliticsHome is told there was a relatively relaxed mood in his office this morning before he was informed he was being kicked out. The former minister and his staff discussed what his weekly column for The Telegraph should be about, with the group leaning towards a piece on the state of the economy. His team was also working out what to ask Justice Secretary David Lammy in the House of Commons later in the day.
Speaking earlier in the day, Farage confirmed that he had held “conversations” with Jenrick, but denied that a defection was imminent. “Of course, I’ve talked to Robert Jenrick. Was I on the verge of signing a document with him? No. But have we had conversations? Yes,” he said at a Reform press conference on Thursday morning.
The defection — the most high-profile Tory-to-Reform switcher to date — seems to have unified Conservative MPs behind Badenoch — including those close to Jenrick. “This has strengthened Kemi”, a member of her shadow cabinet told PoliticsHome.
Nick Timothy, Conservative MP for West Suffolk, and a close friend of Reform’s newest recruit, has replaced him as shadow justice secretary, seemingly dispelling any rumours he could follow him to Reform. Another close ally of Jenrick, Jack Rankin, posted on X to highlight his Conservative credentials. Other Jenrick allies have told PoliticsHome they are going nowhere.
“We will survive. The party is the most successful political force in the West for a reason. The party is bigger than any one person,” said one Conservative MP.
Other shadow ministers, who earlier today were Jenrick’s Conservative Party colleagues, have been scathing about his behaviour, calling him a “loner” who is not “clubbable”.
“Yes, you can work with the most charismatic leader [Farage] for 100 years. That’s incredibly interesting,” one told PoliticsHome. “But do you want to follow the same route as Andrea Jenkyns, Nadine Dorries and Marco Longhi? Absolutely no f**king way. These are not the people you want to follow.”
That said, other Conservative MPs fear what Jenrick’s defection could mean for the future of the Tory Party. There are concerns that a split on the right is all but guaranteed at the next general election, making it easier for Labour to come through the middle. While there is more positivity within the Tory ranks about the job Badenoch is doing than there was earlier in her leadership, the party continues to trail Reform in the polls and faces yet more painful election results in May.
“It’s depressing,” said one Tory strategist. “90 per cent of us should be in the same party defeating the left.”