Robert Jenrick Becomes Latest Big-Name Tory To Defect To Reform UK
Robert Jenrick has become the latest big-name Tory to defect to Reform UK.
On another day of high drama at Westminster, the former cabinet minister jumped ship after being sacked as shadow justice secretary by Kemi Badenoch after she got wind of his double-dealing.
His defection was announced at a press conference by Reform leader Nigel Farage, who thanked Badenoch for forcing Jenrick’s hand.
“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,” he said.
“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.”
The Tory leader sacked Jenrick from her frontbench and suspended him from the party after being shown “clear, irrefutable evidence” that he was planning to quit for Reform.
Just minutes before his defection was confirmed, the Conservatives released extracts of what they said was the speech he had planned to make.
In it, he said: “I agree Britain is broken. In major decline. On the brink. In need of real change. And know neither Conservatives nor Labour will deliver it. Come join Reform.”
His decision to join Reform is another coup for Farage, despite the fact that he described Jenrick as “a fraud who is not to be trusted” less than six months ago.
It comes just days after former Tory chancellor Nadhim Zahawi also defected to the right-wing party.
Announcing his decision to defect, Jenrick said the Conservative Party “don’t have the stomach for the radical change this country needs”.
In a message to voters, he said: “At this hour, with Britain on the brink – in real danger – that is what we must do.
“If you agree with this – don’t sit on the sidelines. Britain is broken. Britain needs Reform. And Reform needs you.”
But his decision to abandon his party was condemned by Conservative activists in his Newark constituency.
Councillor Keith Girling, chairman of the local Conservative association, said: “Jenrick has let down his party, let down the activists who campaigned for him as a Conservative MP, and let down the voters of Newark who re-elected him in 2024.”
Labour chair Anna Turley said: “Robert Jenrick says the Tories broke Britain. Now he wants to do the same again with Farage’s Reform.
“He’s a shameless chancer who, like the other failed Tories who have scuttled off to Reform, are more interested in their careers than the country.
“With Jenrick in tow, Reform clearly wants to deliver the same chaos and decline he did while in government.”