Four days before Robert Jenrick was kicked out of the Tories for planning to defect to Reform UK, he spoke “at length” with Kemi Badenoch on the phone about party strategy. The week before he had sat through a shadow cabinet awayday taking copious notes.
While the Tory leader had been aware for some time of speculation over her shadow justice secretary’s future, she had no hard proof of his plans, so it was business as usual. That all changed just 24 hours after their one-to-one conversation.
On Monday, senior figures in Badenoch’s office were sent screenshots of what one said was “irrefutably” Jenrick’s entire resignation speech, along with the accompanying media plan.
His speech, which was double spaced for easy reading, implored his fellow Tories to defect with him as their party had “lost its way”, singling out senior figures such as Priti Patel and Mel Stride for criticism. He added that Nigel Farage was the “right person” to lead the country.
Despite all the rumours, the Tory leader’s top team were still shocked by the betrayal. Jenrick’s aides had been openly speculating at party events about when he would choose to defect.
“It was all presented jokingly, but of course it wasn’t a joke.
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