EXCLUSIVE – Robert Jenrick made bombshell claims about his former party last night, but the Tories insist he is a ‘compulsive liar’
The Tories have branded Robert Jenrick a “compulsive liar” after he alleged he was told to “rot in hell” by Kemi Badenoch’s chief whip. The explosive row broke last night when Mr Jenrick told GB News he had received the furious text from Ms Badenoch’s chief enforcer of discipline after writing an article calling for the foreign aid budget to be spent on defence.
Mr Jenrick recounted the anecdote as evidence for his claims that the majority of the Tory Party does not hold conservative values and cannot be trusted to return to government. The Reform MP told Patrick Christys: “I remember writing an article about taking the foreign aid budget – or part of – and spending it on defence, because we needed to back up our troops and our armed forces. And one of the whips – now the Chief Whip of the Conservative Party – messaged me to say ‘you’re totally out of order… there’s a special place in hell for you if you make an argument like that’.”
Jenrick claimed there’s a ‘special place in hell’ for him (Image: Getty)
Pressed by the astonished GB News host, Mr Jenrick added: “The person the who’s now the chief whip – the enforcer of discipline around the shadow cabinet table and the Conservative Party – messaged me with a litany of insults, saying I should never say that again and that there’s a special place in hell for anyone who acted like that.”
“I do not believe that people who said things like that just a matter of months ago have now had some kind of incredible conversion and change.”
A Tory spokesman has now issued a furious slap down of Mr Jenrick’s claims, branding him a “compulsive liar” in a statement to the Express.
The senior source blasted: “Kemi was anti-net zero when Rob was prattling on about climate change.
“Kemi was Brexit when Rob was campaigning for Remain. Kemi was anti-woke when Rob was hugging hoodies.
“As ever, Jenrick is a compulsive liar.”
Rebecca Harris is accused of sending the furious message (Image: Parliament )
The article that sparked the claimed slap down from Chief Whip Rebecca Harris was published in the Mail on Sunday last March, entitled “Why do we still send millions to China when we desperately need that money to defend ourselves against countries like… China?”
Mr Jenrick argued that while some of Britain’s foreign aid goes towards good programmes that alleviate extreme poverty around the world, “a significant chunk of our ‘development’ spend is incoherent and wasteful”.
He continued: “It’s ludicrous that we send hundreds of millions to nuclear powers China, India and Pakistan.
“Halving the aid budget would free about £7 billion a year and immediately push defence spending above 2.5 per cent of GDP. When growth returns, or a crisis unfolds, we could make carefully targeted increases in aid spending.”
Chief Whip Rebecca Harris was appointed to the role in November 2024 by Ms Badenoch, and was put in charge of sacking Mr Jenrick from the party last week following revelations he had been planning to defect to Reform UK.
