Robert Jenrick, the former shadow justice secretary, defected to Nigel Farage's Reform UK on Thursday, branding the Conservatives a 'rotten' and 'failed' party after being sacked by leader Kemi Badenoch for plotting against her. The defection, the most senior from the Tories to Reform, deepens the schism on the British right as Badenoch struggles to hold her party together.
Jenrick, who lost the Tory leadership to Badenoch, said at a press conference with Farage: 'The Conservative party in Westminster isn't sorry, it doesn't get it, it hasn't changed, it won't change, it can't change.' He added that both Labour and the Conservatives 'broke Britain' and that he could not 'in good conscience stick with a party that has failed so badly.'
Badenoch removed the whip and suspended Jenrick's membership after finding 'irrefutable evidence' of his planned defection. Jenrick admitted he had resolved to leave by Thursday morning, with discussions with Reform beginning in September, facilitated by former Tory adviser Tim Montgomerie. He confirmed he will not call a byelection in his Newark constituency.
Jenrick singled out shadow chancellor Mel Stride and shadow foreign secretary Priti Patel for criticism, accusing Stride of overseeing welfare bill expansion and Patel of overseeing a surge in legal migration. Farage said that after the 7 May local elections, Reform would reject further Tory defections, and that Jenrick was 'in sackcloth and ashes' about his past decisions.
Farage indicated that Reform would soon allocate roles to key figures, with Jenrick understood to have discussed economic policies, though any appointment as economic spokesperson could cause tensions with deputy leader Richard Tice and policy head Zia Yusuf. A senior Reform source called Jenrick 'the No 1 Tory we have all wanted to come over.'
