Kemi Badenoch emerges stronger from Jenrick's messy split from Tories

"It is never ideal in politics to have a senior colleague defect, hurling insults as they depart, but as the dust settles on Robert Jenrick's move to Reform UK, many of the remaining Conservative MPs agree on one thing: it has left Kemi Badenoch stronger. Historically, the party has suffered from two weaknesses: too many people trying to bring down the leader, and not enough leaders getting rid of those people, one shadow minister said. Hopefully now we're all pulling in the same direction."

"pre-empting Jenrick's likely defection by sacking him as shadow justice minister and stripping him of the Tory whip, leaving the Newark MP and Reform to play catchup with a late afternoon press conference. At that event there were slightly farcical scenes as Jenrick initially failed to appear when Nigel Farage announced him. Tory sources say they believe this was because they had just tweeted extracts of his defection speech, obtained by Badenoch's office, leaving Jenrick making frantic last-minute changes to the address."

"It cemented Kemi's position as a robust leader, but it also showed that members and probably the country don't like traitors. Kemi was right when she said he's Nigel's problem now. When I've talked to members, the phrase good riddance' has come up a lot. He's not been helpful for a while. Another MP was more brutal still: Nobody cares about this. The internal WhatsApp groups are almost silent."

Robert Jenrick defected to Reform UK after being sacked as shadow justice minister and stripped of the Tory whip by Kemi Badenoch. Badenoch pre-empted the move, setting the agenda and forcing Reform to respond with a late afternoon press conference. The press conference included awkward moments as Jenrick initially failed to appear, reportedly making last-minute changes after extracts of his speech were tweeted. Many Conservative MPs said the episode strengthened Badenoch's position, framed Jenrick as a traitor, and prompted members to express 'good riddance'. The central question remains whether any other sitting Tory MPs will follow before Reform's self-imposed May deadline for defections.

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