London, Jan 15 (PTI) The UK’s Opposition Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch on Thursday dramatically sacked her shadow justice secretary with a social media video post, claiming to have discovered “irrefutable” evidence of his plans to defect to the far-right Reform UK.
Robert Jenrick, who served as Home Office minister in charge of immigration under former prime minister Rishi Sunak, will now sit as an Independent MP in Parliament after his Conservative whip and membership were removed.
The 44-year-old was reportedly set to become the latest Tory MP to switch to the Nigel Farage-led anti-immigration party, soon after another former Tory minister Nadhim Zahawi defected to Reform UK this week.
“I was very sorry to be presented with clear, irrefutable evidence, not just that he was preparing to defect, but he was planning to do so the most damaging way possible to the Conservative Party and his shadow cabinet colleagues,” said Badenoch.
“It is my responsibility to protect our party, and faced with that information, I took the only decision that any responsible leader could, because the British public are tired of political psychodrama. So am I.
“They saw too much of it in the last government. They’ve seen too much of it in this government. I will not repeat those mistakes,” she said.
Badenoch accused Jenrick, her challenger in the Tory leadership race following the party’s bruising defeat in the July 2024 general election, of “disloyalty and dishonesty”.
“Conservatives suffered a heavy defeat in 2024 that was painful, but we are rebuilding with strong principles, clear plans and with a serious team united around a shared purpose,” she said.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer responded to the development as a sign that the Opposition leader was unable to contain the “flood of Tory politicians going across to Reform because they know that the Tory party is a sinking ship”.
“Jenrick’s been making toxic comments to try and divide our country for months and months and months. It’s only now when he’s on the verge of defecting to Reform that Badenoch gets round to sacking him. So, that’s weakness,” said Starmer.
On the far-right Reform UK, the Labour Party chief went on to accuse Farage of welcoming “failed Tory politicians who let the country down so badly”.
Lee Anderson and Danny Kruger, who were elected to the House of Commons as Tory MPs, have since switched over to Farage’s party.
Amid a crisis faced by the Opposition Conservatives, 21 former MPs who either resigned or lost their seats in 2024 have also switched their political allegiance to Reform UK.
According to UK media reports, Badenoch’s team discovered evidence of an “imminent” defection in the form of a resignation speech following reports of a dinner with Farage.
Tory loyalists rallied around their leader to distance themselves from Jenrick, who they believe was planning to defect because he still coveted the top job as Conservative leader.
Farage, meanwhile, denied agreeing to any defection deal with Jenrick even as he admitted that the fired shadow minister was “one of many” that he had talked to about future political plans. PTI AK GSP GSP
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