Jenrick officially joins Reform within hours of Tory sacking
Robert Jenrick, the ex-Shadow Justice Secretary, has officially joined Reform UK mere hours after being sacked by the Conservative Party on Thursday afternoon (15 January).
Speaking in Westminister on the same day, Jenrick said that he felt that the Conservative Party has lost its way and was no longer clear on its guiding principle. “In betraying its principles, the Conservative Party betrayed its voters,” he said.
Jenrick added that he would be tackling key issues such as debt, taxation and migration. He added that net migration is a hundred times higher than in the 25 years after 1997 than in the 25 years before it and that “countless communities have become completely unrecognisable”.
“Britain is completely broken. We are set to lose it if this government gets re-elected,” he said.
A quick turn around
Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch posted a statement on social media early on Thursday afternoon stating that she had sacked Jenrick based on irrefutable evidence that he was planning a damaging defection.
Jenrick wasted no time in showing his new allegiance. By 17h00, he was midway through his speech as Reform’s latest member, having been personally introduced by Nigel Farage.
“I have sacked Robert Jenrick from the Shadow Cabinet, removed the whip and suspended his party membership with immediate effect,” Badenoch said.
“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,” she said, adding that she would not repeat those mistakes.
Responding to questions over the sacking of Jenrick, Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned Jenrick’s previous comments and said Badenoch’s move was one that showed weakness.
“The question is: why did it take so long? Jenrick’s been making toxic comments to try and divide our country for months and months and months, and it’s only now, when he’s on the verge of defecting to Reform, that Badenoch gets around to sacking him,” Starmer said.
“That’s weakness on her part.”
He pointed out that many former Conservative Party politicians had now defected to Reform UK, making Farage’s party one stocked with the same figures as the party that suffered a resounding electoral defeat in 2024.
