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Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick has been sacked by Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch.
In a social media post, she said: “I have sacked Robert Jenrick from the shadow cabinet, removed the whip and suspended his party membership with immediate effect.”
Rumours that Jenrick was planning to run for the Tory leadership or was talking to Nigel Farage about joining his Reform UK party, have been swirling around Westminster for months.
Now Badenoch says she has been presented with “clear, irrefutable evidence” about a plot for him to defect, “in the most damaging way possible” to the Conservatives.
Jenrick was yet to make any public comment, a few hours after Badenoch made her public statement.
With Nadim Zahawi the latest and most senior defector to Nigel Farage’s Reform party on Monday, Jenrick’s plot seems likely to have been to follow in his footsteps at some point.
A senior Conservative MP close to Kemi Badenoch says they had “incontrovertible evidence” that Robert Jenrick was about to defect including a “full speech and media plan”.
“We keep a close eye on everyone – we have people everywhere,” they told BBC News.
Another Conservative source told the BBC there was “plenty of evidence” Jenrick was getting closer to Reform.
The source said “material” – had been left “lying around”, which provided “irrefutable evidence” he was preparing to defect.
They added that the defection was being planned “quite soon” and “in the most damaging way possible for the party”.
It’s alleged Jenrick had dinner with Farage last month – and his team had been speaking to “various people” about the possibility.
Jenrick, the MP for Newark, has not responded to requests for comments so far.
Asked about Jenrick’s sacking at a press conference in Edinburgh, Farage denied being part of a plot to unveil Jenrick as a Reform candidate on Thursday afternoon, when he is scheduled to hold another press conference in London.
He claimed Badenoch had “panicked” and “added up two plus two to make five”, adding: “There’s been quite a long list of former Tory MPs that are joining us, so she’s aware that there is that move.”
Asked whether Jenrick would be welcome to join Reform, he said he would call Jenrick this afternoon to talk about it.
“The one big tick against his name is that he did resign as minister for immigration,” he said.
“I will give him a call this afternoon.”
Farage also admitted he had “absolutely” been in talks with Jenrick about the possibility of joining Reform.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said Badenoch’s decision showed “weakness” and questioned why it’s taken her “so long” to act.
“Jenrick has 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 round to sacking him,” he said.
Sir Keir said the “flood” of Conservative politicians going across to Reform showed the “Tory party is a sinking ship” and added: “Nigel Farage is welcoming these failed politicians into his ranks and building his party as a party of the Tory politicians who let the country down so badly.”
In a post accompanied by a two-minute video, 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. I will not repeat those mistakes.”
Following news of his sacking, Labour MP Josh Simons asked Reform MP Sarah Pochin in the House of Commons whether Jenrick was joining her party and she responded by smiling and giving a wide-armed shrug.
Jenrick’s sacking is a pivotal moment for the future of the British right wing, with Conservative MPs genuinely fearful their party is being usurped by Reform UK.
When Badenoch became Tory leader just over a year ago the party was still polling higher than Reform — but a lot has changed in 2025.
The Conservative Party is often called the most successful political party in the democratic world.
If Jenrick was – or is – planning to defect to Reform, as Badenoch alleges, that would be a crushing blow to the Conservative Party.
He finished second in the leadership election in 2024 and his creative use of social videos has only given him greater prominence since.
So Badenoch’s audacious gambit has made the question of the British right’s future a question, in the immediate term, of Jenrick’s future.
A Liberal Democrat source said: “The Conservative shadow cabinet makes The Traitors roundtable look united.
“The country deserves better than a clapped out Labour government and the same old Conservative chaos.”
