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Robert Jenrick has been sacked from the Tories’ shadow cabinet for “plotting in secret to defect”, Kemi Badenoch has said.
The Conservative Party leader did not say which party Mr Jenrick was planning to switch to, but Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said he has “of course” had conversations with the senior frontbencher.
Mr Jenrick was Ms Badenoch’s shadow justice secretary.
In a statement on X, she said: “I have sacked Robert Jenrick from the shadow cabinet, removed the whip and suspended his party membership with immediate effect.
“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.”
Conservative sources have told Sky News that Ms Badenoch discovered Mr Jenrick’s plans after his team left “stuff” lying around.
They accidentally left material that showed he had been speaking to the Reform UK leader, including at a dinner last month, it is understood.
Reacting to Mrs Badenoch’s announcement, Mr Farage insisted he was “very surprised” the news had broken and would “never reveal private conversations” as he spoke at a press conference on Thursday.
But asked again whether he had been in talks with the former Tory frontbencher, he added: “Of course, I’ve talked to Robert Jenrick. Was I on the verge of signing a document with him? No. But have we had conversations? Yes.”
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