The former senior Tory sensationally defected to Reform after Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch sacked him
Robert Jenrick and Nigel Farage announce Mr Jenrick’s defection (Image: Getty)
Robert Jenrick has revealed the final straw that led him to defect from the Conservatives and become the latest star signing for Nigel Farage and Reform UK. He had been in talks with Reform for months about the possibility of defecting. But he said he also continued talking to Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, and urged her to make the changes that he believed the Tory party needed. And those talks intensified “over the last few weeks”, he said.
Mr Jenrick said he wanted the Tory leader to acknowledge that Britain’s current problems were caused by previous Conservative governments, as well as the current Labour government. And, crucially, he demanded she sack top Tories who he believed had made mistakes as part of the last Government – but Mrs Badenoch refused. Top of his list was Priti Patel, the current Shadow Foreign Secretary in Kemi Badenoch’s team. Dame Priti had previously been Home Secretary – making her responsible for immigration policy – in the Conservative government from 2019 to 2022.
Writing in the Telegraph, Mr Jenrick said; “Look at the top table. Priti Patel, the shadow foreign secretary, created the migration system that enabled five million migrants to come here. When asked about this last year, she defended her actions. She doesn’t believe she did anything wrong.”
And referring to his explosive press conference alongside Nigel Farage on Thursday, he continued: “Over the last few weeks, in meetings and calls, I told Kemi and her team what I said in my press conference … that the Conservative Party needed to change fundamentally.
“That it must acknowledge the state of Britain, the party’s role in creating it – and then remove those responsible for it.”
But Mrs Badenoch would not listen, he said. “On all these issues, we were in different places.”
It came after what Mr Jenrick said were months of frustration with his former party.
He said: “Last year, I said the rape gangs scandal was in part because people with ‘medieval attitudes towards women’ had been allowed into our country. Several Conservative MPs complained about me for speaking out.
“Over Christmas, I attacked Labour for bringing the anti-British, anti-Semitic, terrorist sympathiser el-Fattah here from Egypt. Senior figures were angry at me.”
Kemi Badenoch will seek to steady the Tory ship today with media appearances after her party was rocked by Robert Jenrick’s defection to Reform.
Nick Timothy, who replaced Mr Jenrick as Shadow Justice Secretary, said the public were sick of “the backbiting and the backstabbing” in politics.
Mr Timothy told the BBC: “It’s obviously disappointing that he’s decided to move on, but the thing is, what we learned yesterday is the clear contrast between the Conservatives led by Kemi Badenoch and the other parties and what they offer Britain today.
“The public are sick of the backbiting and the backstabbing and the lack of seriousness in our political parties when the challenges that the country faces are so serious, Kemi was given irrefutable evidence of what was about to happen, and she acted very decisively.”
