Robert Jenrick sacked by Kemi Badenoch over ‘clear proof he was plotting to defect’ – UK politics stay | Politics
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Kemi Badenoch sacks Robert Jenrick for plotting to defect
Kemi Badenoch has sacked Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, for plotting to defect.
She has posted this on social media.
I’ve sacked Robert Jenrick from the Shadow Cupboard, eliminated the whip and suspended his social gathering membership with rapid impact.
I used to be introduced with clear, irrefutable proof that he was plotting in secret to defect in a approach designed to be as damaging as doable to his Shadow Cupboard colleagues and the broader Conservative Social gathering.
The British public are bored with political psychodrama and so am I. They noticed an excessive amount of of it within the final authorities, they’re seeing an excessive amount of of it in THIS authorities.
I cannot repeat these errors.
Key occasions
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Hollinrake says there is no such thing as a approach again into Tory social gathering following his sacking for disloyalty
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Newark Tories again Badenoch’s choice to sack Jenrick, their MP
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Malcolm Offord, former Tory peer, says he will not disclose his wealth, after being named as Reform UK’s Scottish chief
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Badenoch ought to publish proof she claims to have that Jenrick about to defect, says former Tory cupboard minister
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‘This man is a fraud’ – what Farage stated about Jenrick lower than 5 months in the past
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Starmer accuses Badenoch of ‘weak spot’, saying Jenrick ought to have been sacked months in the past for ‘poisonous’ feedback
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Labour chair says Badenoch has ‘misplaced management of social gathering’ – whereas Labour MP praises her ‘robust management’ sacking Jenrick
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‘Treacherous’ Jenrick motivated to defect by ‘private ambition’, Tory chair Kevin Hollinrake says
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Jenrick ‘utterly out of his depth’ as minister, former Tory authorities colleague claims
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Proof that Jenrick about to defect ‘completely irrefutable’, Tories say
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Farage claims he’ll announce Labour defection subsequent week
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Farage claims Badenoch ‘panicked’, and that Reform UK was not planning to unveil Jenrick as defector later at the moment
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Farage says ‘in fact’ he has spoken to Jenrick, however Jenrick not ‘on verge’ of signing as much as Reform
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Badenoch says Jenrick needed his defection to be ‘most damaging’ to Tory social gathering
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Kemi Badenoch sacks Robert Jenrick for plotting to defect
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In April final 12 months Ipsos performed a ballot asking individuals what impression on their view of Reform a Robert Jenrick would have. Total, it was a web destructive, however not by a lot. Keiran Pedley posted the figures on social media.
Kemi Badenoch has emailed Conservative social gathering members to elucidate her choice to sack Robert Jenrick, Aubrey Allegretti from the Instances studies. She advised them.
After I was elected chief I dedicated to doing politics in another way. Disloyalty and dishonesty undermine belief in politics.
They’re additionally disrespectful to our social gathering members, our councillors, MPs and most of all voters. You all deserve higher.
Hollinrake says there is no such thing as a approach again into Tory social gathering following his sacking for disloyalty
In his Sky Information interview, Kevin Hollinrake, the Tory chair, was requested if there was “no approach again” for Robert Jenrick within the mild of his disloyalty. Hollinrake agreed. He stated the social gathering was “very clear on that”.
Kevin Hollinrake, the Conservative social gathering chair, has been interviewed on Sky Information. Requested concerning the name from Jacob Rees-Mogg for the proof towards Robert Jenrick to be revealed (see 2.01pm), he stated the proof was “damning” and “irrefutable” – however he didn’t decide to publishing it.
That is from Jack Elsom, the Solar political editor, on the proof (a draft resignation speech).
Tories assured they’ve Jenrick bang to rights. One says the proof leaves “zero doubt”.
Newark Tories again Badenoch’s choice to sack Jenrick, their MP
Newark Conservative affiliation, the place Robert Jenrick is MP, has issued a press release on Fb saying it backs Kemi Badenoch’s choice to sack him. Keith Girling, the affiliation chair, stated:
Kemi Badenoch was completely proper to take this decisive motion when confronted with irrefutable proof that Robert Jenrick was plotting to defect in essentially the most damaging approach doable.
Jenrick has let down his social gathering, 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.
Malcolm Offord, former Tory peer, says he will not disclose his wealth, after being named as Reform UK’s Scottish chief
Severin Carrell
Severin Carrell is the Guardian’s Scotland editor.
The multimillionaire financier who has been made chief of Reform UK in Scotland has refused to say how rich he’s, claiming that could be a personal matter.
Malcolm Offord, previously a Conservative social gathering life peer, was unveiled by Reform’s chief Nigel Farage because the social gathering’s first Scottish chief, 10 weeks earlier than a Scottish parliament election the place Reform is predicted to win as much as 18 seats.
Offord is an avid yachtsman who wins races at Cowes, collects traditional vehicles and not too long ago purchased a mansion on the banks of Loch Lomond for £1.6m with no mortgage, and beforehand endorsed recommendations the general public could possibly be charged to make use of the NHS.
Talking at a press convention in Kirkcaldy, Farage and Offord, who was appointed to the higher home by former Tory prime minister David Cameron in 2021, ceremoniously signed a letter stating Offord has “retired” as a peer with a view to stand for Holyrood.
They acknowledged that Offord would stay a life peer since solely an act of parliament can cancel a life peerage; Farage indicated they didn’t intend to use to the king for such an act however stated Offord would now not attend the Lords or use the title.
Pressed by reporters on whether or not he would declare his wealth earlier than the Might elections, he refused to take action and declined to publish his tax returns. The conference on the Scottish parliament is for social gathering leaders to take action.
“I’m not speaking about my web value,” he stated. “That’s not of any relevance to anyone. For a begin, it’s not one thing you pluck out of the air as a result of your property will not be simply valued.”
Farage stated Reform stated would placing up 100 candidates in Might’s election, to contest many of the 129 seats.
“We really feel very assured that the record of women and men we put earlier than the Scottish citizens will characterize a really, very broad cross-section of working life in Scotland, individuals of actual expertise, not {many professional} politicians, amongst them,” he stated.
Offord stated these candidates have been “actual, genuine individuals” who included midwives, academics, medical doctors and a procurator fiscal – a state prosecutor. “They characterize Scotland at its grassroots in each a part of this nation,” he stated.
The newest Scottish opinion ballot, revealed by the political consultancy True North on Thursday and performed by Survation, suggests Reform is neck and neck with Labour for second place, behind the Scottish Nationwide social gathering on 34% of the constituency vote.
Survation estimated Reform was on 19% of the constituency vote, in comparison with Labour on 16%. On the record vote, Reform and Labour have been tied at 18%. True North stated these information implied the SNP would win 61 seats, lower than an total majority, with Labour and Reform tied on 18 seats.
The newest episode of the Guardian’s Politics Weekly podcast is out. It options Kiran Stacey and John Harris speaking about Robert Jenrick’s sacking.
Badenoch ought to publish proof she claims to have that Jenrick about to defect, says former Tory cupboard minister
Jacob Rees-Mogg, the previous Tory cupboard minister who has not defected to Reform UK however who would really like the Tories and Reform to kind an electoral pact, has stated that if Kemi Badenoch has clear proof that Robert Jenrick was about to defect, she ought to publish it.
Talking on the World at One, he stated:
If the proof is there, they need to positively publish it. I feel that makes Kemi’s place extraordinarily robust.
If it’s true that Robert was planning to defect and was planning to take action in a approach that was damaging to the social gathering, then eradicating the whip and eradicating him from a shadow cupboard is an affordable factor for a celebration chief to have executed.
If there isn’t any proof for that, it’s an over-reaction, and I feel it strengthens Kevin’s place if she reveals the proof that exists.
In an interview earlier, Kevin Hollinrake, the Tory chair, stated he had seen proof that Jenrick was planning to defect in a “treacherous” approach. (See 12.31pm.) It has been reported that this proof was a draft resignation speech, however Hollinrake didn’t affirm that.
On condition that the draft resignation speech is considered damning about Badenoch, then it’s not laborious to see why CCHQ will not be publishing it on its social media account.
My colleague Jessica Elgot says the textual content was additionally damning about a few of Jenrick’s colleagues.
Social gathering sources say that Jenrick’s deliberate resignation speech included vicious criticism of shadow cupboard colleagues, together with Priti Patel and Mel Stride.
Up to now there was hypothesis that Jenrick might defect to Reform UK in return for a promise that he can be chancellor in a Nigel Farage-led authorities. The truth that he has been sacked at the moment makes this much less seemingly, as a result of his becoming a member of would now not be a PR coup for Farage, and so he has misplaced a lot of the leverage he needed to negotiate a good job in return for switching.
Jenrick argues that the final Tory authorities failed on immigration, and so it’s not shocking that his draft resignation speech included a passage criticising Priti Patel, who was dwelling secretary when authorized immigration soared.
The truth that he was additionally planning to criticise Mel Stride, the shadow chancellor, might affirm suspicions that he fancies himself as a possible Reform chancellor. In a New Statesman article on Jenrick’s defection, Will Lloyd says:
Jenrick had advised buddies in latest weeks that he thought Reform lacked a viable financial spokesperson and an eventual shadow chancellor.
George Osborne, the previous Tory chancellor, says that, if Kemi Badenoch thinks that sacking Robert Jenrick will finish the Tory psychodrama (see 11.11am), she is incorrect. Talking on the newest version of his Political Foreign money podcast this morning, recorded because the information was breaking, he stated:
Is Kemi Badenoch forcing [Jenrick’s] hand or has her hand been pressured as a result of he’d already made his choice? She’s definitely saying she’d seen proof he was about to defect. Then that’s the correct starting of the civil warfare inside [the] proper about who’s going to steer the precise.
And what are Tory MPs going to do? Are they going to defect to Reform? Is the stress going to develop to have an alliance with Reform? Or are they going to say, look, the Jenricks of this world can go away, however we expect the long run lies with the Tory social gathering …
If [Badenoch] thinks the psychodrama is over, I’m afraid it’s simply starting.
James Heale from the Spectator says some Reform UK members will not be all thrilled concerning the prospect of Robert Jenrick becoming a member of the social gathering.
Some unhappiness inside Reform on the prospect of a Jenrick defection.
One councillor says: “Whereas I personally like Jenrick. I can’t see how he could possibly be defecting if Nigel had known as him a fraud and stated he wasn’t to be trusted. [See 1.15pm.]
“Sure, I feel he could possibly be an asset to Reform. However I can’t for the lifetime of me perceive why Nigel can be entertaining a person he personally known as a fraud.
“It makes us look ridiculous. It’s dangerous sufficient when somebody defects and has had a pop at Nigel or Reform beforehand, nevertheless it’s worse when it’s the opposite approach spherical.”
‘This man is a fraud’ – what Farage stated about Jenrick lower than 5 months in the past
Whereas Nigel Farage didn’t rule out accepting Robert Jenrick as a defector at his press convention this morning, he additionally advised that Jenrick’s report in authorities could be an issue for him (see 11.38am) – though Reform UK has been comfortable to take different former Tories related to coverage failure.
However, solely final summer time, Farage was attacking Jenrick on social media due to his report as an immigration minister. “This man is a fraud, this man is to not be trusted,” Farage stated on this video.
When Robert Jenrick was immigration minister he grew the variety of unlawful migrants dwelling in free accommodations to 56,000.
He’s no pal of Epping. pic.twitter.com/E6HMry5AOX
— Nigel Farage MP (@Nigel_Farage) August 20, 2025
Across the identical time, Farage additionally posted this on X.
Keith Girling, a Conservative councillor on Nottinghamshire county councils representing a ward in Robert Jenrick’s Newark constituency, advised PA Media he felt “completely betrayed” by the MP. He stated:
I’m clearly very, very, very dissatisfied in Robert. I’m an awesome believer in loyalty and he’s proven an entire lack of loyalty there.
I feel Kemi has executed completely the precise factor when she finds proof of what he’s plotting to do. She’s proven actual management there to sack him, kick him out of the social gathering, and we’ll cope with the aftermath.
And that is what Keir Starmer’s press secretary has stated about Robert Jenrick on the foyer briefing this morning.
Robert Jenrick was the immigration minister in a authorities that presided over an open borders experiment, a well being minister who left individuals caught on ready lists, and a Treasury minister throughout the worst decline in dwelling requirements on report.”
Whereas Reform continues to welcome failed Tory retreads, this Labor authorities is placing the nation again on observe.
Starmer accuses Badenoch of ‘weak spot’, saying Jenrick ought to have been sacked months in the past for ‘poisonous’ feedback
Keir Starmer has stated that Kemi Badenoch ought to have sacked Robert Jenrick way back for his “poisonous” feedback. On a go to in Scotland, Starmer stated:
My query is: why did it take so lengthy? Jenrick has been making poisonous feedback to try to divide our nation for months, and months, and months, nevertheless it’s solely now, when he’s on the verge of defecting to Reform, that Badenoch will get round to sacking him. So, that’s weak spot on her half.
(For examples of what Starmer meant when he was speaking about Jenrick’s “poisonous” politics, you may begin by studying his Tory convention speech this autumn.)
Referring to on the whole to Tory MPs defecting to Reform UK, Starmer stated:
There’s an even bigger story right here, as a result of we’re seeing a flood of Tory politicians, ex-politicians, going throughout to Reform as a result of they know that the Tory social gathering is a sinking ship.
Equally, from Reform’s standpoint, you’ve bought Nigel Farage who’s welcoming these failed politicians into his ranks and constructing his social gathering as a celebration of the Tory politicians who let the nation down so badly.
There are actually a minimum of 24 former Tory MPs in Reform UK. There’s a record of 20 of them right here, and because it was revealed Ben Bradley and Zahawi have defected. The record doesn’t embody two Reform UK MPs, Lee Anderson and Danny Kruger, who have been each first elected as Tories.
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