How Robert Jenrick was ejected before he defected

"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."

"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. We all thought he would wait till May to see if he still had a chance to depose Kemi. But that became more and more obvious that is not going to happen, one party source said."

Four days before being expelled from the Conservative Party for planning to defect to Reform UK, Robert Jenrick spoke at length with Kemi Badenoch about party strategy. Days earlier he had attended a shadow cabinet awayday taking copious notes. Twenty-four hours after their one-to-one conversation, Badenoch's office received screenshots of what was presented as Jenrick's full resignation speech and media plan. The double-spaced speech urged fellow Tories to defect, criticized figures such as Priti Patel and Mel Stride, and endorsed Nigel Farage as the right person to lead the country. Senior aides had previously joked about his intentions but were shocked by the betrayal.

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