Robert Jenrick Defects To Reform UK
3 min read
Robert Jenrick has left the Tories to join Reform UK.
Jenrick, a former minister, announced his defection to Nigel Farage's party at a press conference on Thursday afternoon after being kicked out of the Conservative Party by leader Kemi Badenoch earlier in the day.
Appearing alongside Farage, Jenrick launched an extraordinary attack on his former Conservative MP colleagues, saying most of them are "in denial" or "being dishonest" about what successive Tory governments have done to Britain.
He said the party had "betrayed" its voters and members while in office, and was now unable to apologise for the damage it had inflicted on the country.
"I can't kid myself anymore," Jenrick told the press conference. "The [Conservative] party hasn't changed, and it won't. The bulk of the party don't get it. Don't have the stomach for the radical change this country needs."
He added: "I can't – in good conscience – stick with a party that's failed so badly. That isn't sorry and hasn't changed. That I know in my heart won't – can't – deliver what's needed. That's why I resolved to leave.
"Because Nigel Farage has stood – consistently, and often alone – for what's needed. Ending mass migration. Cheap energy. Cutting waste and taxes and red tape.
"I don't agree with everything he's ever said. And he definitely won't have agreed with everything I've ever said. But in retrospect, I see that in this period, when the two main parties were failing Britain, Nigel was all too often a lone voice of common sense."
Jenrick said that "without a blink of an eyelid" he wants Farage to be the next prime minister and vowed to "work every day for the next three-and-a-half years... to make sure that happens".
His move represents the most high-profile Tory-to-Reform defection so far.
The MP for Newark, who was defeated by Badenoch in the contest to succeed Rishi Sunak as Conservative Party leader in 2024, had been widely discussed as the frontrunner to succeed her as Conservative leader in the event of her stepping down from the role.
Jenrick told the media today that he had "put aside" his "own personal ambition" by defecting to Reform. He also confirmed that he had no plans to trigger a by-election in his constituency.
In a post on X this morning, Badenoch announced she had sacked Jenrick as shadow justice secretary, removed the Conservative Party whip and terminated his party membership after being presented with "clear, irrefutable evidence" that Jenrick 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".
Jenrick joins a significant list of Conservatives who have opted to switch to Reform since the last general election, which includes former cabinet ministers Nadhim Zahawi, who announced his defection earlier this week, Nadine Dorries and Jake Berry.
Speaking at the same press conference, Farage said a "well-known Labour figure" will be joining Reform next week, but that his party would accept no further Conservative defections after the local elections on 7 May.
Reform continues to lead both the Tories and Labour in the opinion polls and is eyeing further gains at those elections in Wales, Scotland and parts of England in May.
Farage, who confirmed earlier today that he'd had "conversations" with Jenrick before Badenoch decided to sack him, claimed this morning that many Tory politicians "realise that for all of the talk that Kemi's doing better at PMQs, which is true, for all the talk of a surpposed Kemi bounce, a lot of them realise that on 8 May, the Conservative Party will cease to be a national party".
