A jubilant Sir Keir Starmer has spoken out after the apparent defection of top Tory Robert Jenrick caused turmoil for both the Conservatives and Reform. The Prime Minister called the Tories a “sinking ship” and said Reform had become a home for failed politicians.

Sir Keir responded after Kemi Badenoch said she had sacked Robert Jenrick as shadow justice secretary and kicked him out of the party due to “irrefutable evidence that he was plotting in secret to defect”. It meant she ruined what appeared to be a Reform plan to announce the defection itself, although Mr Jenrick has not confirmed that he was planning to switch. Sir Keir questioned why it took Mrs Badenoch “so long” to sack Mr Jenrick as the senior Tory faced accusations of defecting to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.