Robert Jenrick has been sacked from the shadow cabinet and suspended from the Conservative party after leader Kemi Badenoch said she had “irrefutable evidence” that he was planning to defect. The shadow justice secretary, who was a leadership rival to Badenoch, had long been suspected of considering a move to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.
Badenoch did not name the party, but sources confirmed it was Reform UK. She accused Jenrick of putting personal ambition above loyalty. In a statement, she said: “I was presented with clear, irrefutable evidence that he 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.”
Westminster sources said Badenoch had been monitoring Jenrick for some time due to suspicions he was undermining the party. Parts of a potential resignation speech, which reportedly criticised shadow chancellor Mel Stride, shadow defence secretary James Cartlidge, and shadow foreign secretary Priti Patel, were said to have been left unattended. However, Farage denied that a defection was imminent.
Farage said he had had conversations with Jenrick but was not about to unveil him at a press conference. “I suspect she’s added up two and two and made five,” he said, referring to Badenoch. He also raised concerns about bringing “Tory infighting” into Reform UK. Jenrick, a former immigration minister, has a significant social media following, and any defection would be the highest-profile for the party since Danny Kruger.
