Reform UK's Robert Jenrick is facing calls to apologise after being accused of sharing a doctored quote from Labour's new migration minister, Jo White. The former Conservative MP posted a clip on social media suggesting White told constituents she did not care about stopping small boats. However, White later released a full audio recording showing she actually said: "I don't care who will stop the boats... my number one priority is to stop those boats."
Jenrick deletes post but denies wrongdoing
Jenrick's post on X, which was later deleted, claimed White said: "I don't care if we stop the boats." He also claimed that Andy Burnham "clearly doesn't give a stuff about stopping the boats". On Thursday morning, Jenrick said he had deleted the post but denied he was wrong to post it.
White demands apology
An outraged White posted the recording of her comments to constituents, stating: "Robert Jenrick is spreading a false account of what I said at a meeting with my constituents last year. This recording proves what I said. Reform have deliberately twisted my words to mislead the public. They should withdraw their false claim and immediately apologise."
Labour MP Jacob Collier said: "In sharing a doctored audio clip of Jo, Jenrick and Reform are once again showing their desperation and departing from the boundaries of healthy, democratic debate." Former Home Office minister Mike Tapp wrote: "Robert Jenrick should apologise for spreading misinformation about a Labour Minister. Fair and contentious debate is fine, spreading lies and misinformation is not."
Jenrick defends his actions
In an interview with Talk TV's Jeremy Kyle, Jenrick claimed he had been sent the clip by people who were at the meeting. He said: "I made the, I thought, perfectly reasonable point of putting that out into the public domain and asking her to explain what is her actual position. Now, she says that the recording isn't quite right, and that if you have a quality recording, she's saying something different. So, look, I am a fair minded person. I said late last night, you know what, I'll delete this. Let's give her the benefit of the doubt and let's see what she actually does."
Asked if he had made a mistake, Jenrick said: "No, I don't think so. But, look, I'm prepared to give people the benefit of the doubt. I don't know exactly what happened at this meeting because I wasn't there."
Reform UK points finger at Guido Fawkes
A Reform UK spokesman blamed news site Guido Fawkes, which he said was the source of the shorter quote shared by Jenrick. He said: "We’ve always trusted Guido Fawkes as a source of information, but perhaps on this occasion they didn’t get the full picture. We await Burnham’s first mention of the small boats - he clearly doesn’t give a toss."
