Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch has launched a robust defence of her former cabinet colleague, Robert Jenrick, while delivering a scathing assessment of his critics. The intervention comes in the wake of Mr. Jenrick's resignation from his post as Immigration Minister, a move he made in protest against Rishi Sunak's flagship Rwanda asylum policy.
In a striking dismissal of the political commentary surrounding the timing of the resignation, Mrs Badenoch labelled such critics as "lazy" for suggesting the minister should have quit his role sooner. She argued that this superficial analysis fundamentally misunderstood the complex realities of ministerial responsibility and the earnest efforts made to improve the policy from within government.
A Matter of Principle, Not Timing
Robert Jenrick ultimately stepped down from his position, declaring the government's proposed Rwanda legislation did "not go far enough" to ensure its effectiveness. His departure was a significant blow to the Prime Minister, exposing the deep fractures within the Conservative Party over the crucial issue of immigration.
However, rather than focusing on the resignation itself, much of the immediate media scrutiny fell on why Mr. Jenrick did not resign earlier, given his apparent long-standing disagreements with the policy's direction.
Badenoch's Forceful Rebuttal
It is this line of criticism that Kemi Badenoch forcefully rejected. She portrayed Jenrick not as a ditherer, but as a dedicated minister who worked diligently behind the scenes to strengthen the policy. From her perspective, his decision to leave was a last resort, taken only when it became unequivocally clear that internal efforts had failed.
"The idea that he was late is lazy," she stated, implying that true political insight lay in understanding the nuances of his predicament rather than jumping to simplistic conclusions about timing. Her comments serve as a defence of a colleague and a broader critique of what she sees as reductive political journalism.
The Rocky Road of the Rwanda Plan
The government's agreement with Rwanda, designed to relocate asylum seekers to the East African nation for processing, has been mired in legal challenges and political controversy since its inception. The UK Supreme Court's ruling that the policy was unlawful plunged the plan into crisis, forcing the government to devise a new treaty and emergency legislation to address the court's concerns.
It was this new legislation that proved to be the final straw for Mr. Jenrick, who believed it was too vulnerable to further legal challenges. His resignation has intensified pressure on the Prime Minister from the right wing of his party, with some MPs echoing Jenrick's call for a tougher approach, even if it means disregarding certain international human rights laws.
As James Cleverly steps in to take over the immigration brief, the government faces an uphill battle to unite its fractured ranks and demonstrate that its revised plan can finally break the deadlock and deter illegal Channel crossings.
