Kemi Badenoch Sacks Robert Jenrick Over Secret Plot To Defect To Reform UK

Kemi Badenoch has sacked Robert Jenrick from the shadow cabinet after it emerged he was plotting to defect to Reform UK.

The Tory leader said she was “presented with clear, irrefutable evidence” that the shadow justice secretary was planning to jump ship to Nigel Farage’s party.

Jenrick, who was defeated by Badenoch in the 2024 Conservative leadership contest, has also had his party membership suspended.

Announcing the stunning move on X, she said: “I have sacked Robert Jenrick from the Shadow Cabinet, removed the whip and suspended his party membership with immediate effect.

“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.

“The British public are tired of political psychodrama and so am I. They saw too much of it in the last government, they’re seeing too much of it in THIS government. I will not repeat those mistakes.”

Reacting to the news at a press conference in Scotland, Farage said he was “very surprised”.

He said: “I never reveal private conversations with anybody. I’m going to say that I’ve had conversations with a number of very senior Conservatives over the course of the last week, over the course of the last month.

“A lot of them realise that for all the talk that Kemi’s doing better at PMQs, which is true, for all the talk of a supposed Kemi bounce, a lot of them realise that on May 8 the Conservative Party will cease to be a national party.

“They will be obliterated in Scotland, in Wales, in the Red Wall councils. There’s a lot of people considering their future.

“As far as Mr Jenrick’s concerned, of course I’ve talked to Robert Jenrick. Was I on the verge of signing a document with him? No. But have we had conversations? Yes.”

Labour chair Anna Turley said: “Badenoch has lost control of her party and the architects of 14 years of Tory failure are now scuttling off to inflict their same chaos through Farage’s Reform.

“With 23 ex-Tory MPs now swelling Nigel Farage’s ranks already, and apparently Jenrick to come, it’s clear that Reform are just a shop front for failed Conservatives that wrecked public services and made people poorer.”