Laura Kuenssberg: Jenrick’s move is massive

There’s a new look at Reform Headquarters and a new face on the staff.

Before Thursday, the last time Robert Jenrick had entered Millbank Tower, a legendary address in Westminster where many political campaigns have been waged, was decades ago as a keen Conservative activist.

He is now Reformation UK’s biggest prize yet; A favorite of Tory and Conservative party members best known for defecting.

Whether you like Jenrick’s tactics or not, he has campaign cunning, a knack for grabbing headlines, government experience, knowledge of Parliament and, of course, insider knowledge of what Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch and her team are up to.

So how will this great political character adapt to a new political tribe? So, at a time when Reformation UK is busy trying to appeal to the whole country, could his big move be swallowed up by a big fight on the right?

Speaking to Jenrick yesterday, it was clear that he is dead serious about his political future and has hitched his wagon to the biggest party currently in the polls. But any departure raises deep questions about whether that person can be trusted.

Some Conservatives accuse him of lying and treason. He is said to have discussed party strategy in meetings with colleagues over the last seven days.

In fact, when challenged on the morning of his escape, he told the chief whip that it was “nonsense” and that he was “stunned”, a source told me.

Hours later, Jenrick appeared grinning alongside Reform UK leader Nigel Farage during the public handshake that, remember, sealed the deal after he was fired.

Has he been serially denying that he is considering going to Reformation in the last few months?

Yes.

Do we know now that he’s been talking to them since the fall?

Yes to that too.

Jenrick’s response to accusations of lying and evidence that he was misleading people was to claim that he was now the one truly honest about the state of the country and the collapse of the Conservative Party. He told us that he only made his final decision about leaving at Christmas.

Whether you sympathize with him, think his behavior is appalling, or something in between, there is clearly a toxic debate about what he did. This fight does nothing for the sense of trust in politicians.

He wouldn’t have much of a clue if it was someone from his team who leaked his escape plans, but you can rest assured that today won’t be the last word on the matter.

One of the reasons Jenrick left the Conservative Party was that he wanted to use a harsher tone than his colleagues were willing. Political parties traditionally stand or fall on agreeing in public even though they disagree in private. Without this discipline, there will be chaos.

We asked him if he now agreed with the Reformation’s position on benefits for large families; His answer was that the party “should think carefully about this issue.” It’s not exactly the same as the script.

What about the NHS? Jenrick was not prepared to agree with Farage’s previous comments that he could possibly move to an insurance-based model. But it highlights an area where Reform will be under pressure to take a clearer position.

Political parties are not just about the color of your banner or tie, but also about what you believe in and what you represent.

Once upon a time, Jenrick was seen as a ‘Cameroonian’, a fan of David Cameron’s Waitrose-style politics: modern, socially liberal, middle-class friendly. It’s one thing to shift to the right, shaped by changes in the country and his own experience at the Home Office, where he left the government in disillusionment. It’s one thing to step into a party with a completely different belief system.

And politicians are ambitious people by nature. Jenrick told me he wasn’t offered the job by Farage, but it’s ridiculous to imagine he didn’t want a key position.

How will the arrival of the few other big names of the Reformation (Richard Tice or Zia Yusuf) play out? What makes politicians get out of bed in the morning is their passion for themselves, their party and the country. Sharing the spotlight isn’t exactly something they all enjoy.

Jenrick told me that he and Farage’s previous barbs at each other were just “rough and tumble”.

But we’ll have to see how working relations develop, given that mutual insults include fraud, hypocrisy and frivolity.

Jenrick’s departure raises one of the biggest questions in politics right now; Whether reform UK can, as Jenrick says, “bring the right together”.

Although the Conservatives have gained some momentum in recent weeks, they have been miles ahead in the polls for months. But as Jenrick himself has argued, if voters choose Reform there is a risk that the vote on the right will be split, making it easier for Prime Minister Keir Starmer to win next time.

Truly “uniting the right” would require the Conservatives to limp along – or vice versa, though that seems very difficult at the moment. Or, in fact, he’s making a deal that both groups blindly swear they won’t make.

There is no sign that Badenoch has any appetite for anything other than fighting to the death.

Like Chris Mason wrote yesterdayThere is a risk that hiring Jenrick and others will give Reform the air of being a repository for disgruntled Tories and not the radical insurgent force Farage wants to claim it to be. But nothing would suit Labor better than the duo being locked in battle, reminding the public of years of Tory debates and showing that both Reform and Conservatives are focused on each other, not No 10.

Jenrick has clearly considered leaving the party that gave him the opportunity to wield his career and power. Over time, you may find that he begins to believe that the country’s problems require something more radical than the traditional major parties are prepared to meet.

Reform will now have the knowledge and support to answer this call with a credible offer to the public. In his view, the Conservatives need more than a fresh coat of paint.

Top image credit: Getty Images

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