Leaked Jenrick defection plan calls him ‘the new sheriff in town’ | Robert Jenrick
The media blueprint for Robert Jenrick’s defection to Reform reportedly referred to him as the “new sheriff in town” and the “biggest defection story” Nigel Farage’s party has ever experienced.
The leaked plan refers to the departure of former Tory chancellor Nadhim Zahawi on Monday, signaling that it was prepared in recent days.
Jenrick admitted he was “determined” to switch to Reform before Kemi Badenoch sacked him.
The Tory leader sacked Jenrick as shadow justice secretary and suspended him from his party on Thursday, accusing him of conspiring to jump ship.
Jenrick is thought to have taken pre-emptive action after the draft of his resignation speech and this memo were forwarded to his team.
The Newark MP is being referred to as “Reform’s biggest ever defection story” and the “new sheriff in town”, the Mail on Sunday and Sunday Times report.
Jenrick appears to have underlined the words: “We’re here to support Nigel.”
A source close to Jenrick said he had no involvement in drafting the document.
A spokesman for Jenrick said: “As the document makes clear, Rob is just a member of Nigel’s team and wants to help him become prime minister.
“And unlike the Conservatives, they are a team that wants to change Britain rather than pretend it is not broken.”
Jenrick continued his attacks on his former party.
The Newark MP told the Sun on Sunday: “It’s almost become the posh people’s party.
“They are so disconnected from the people I grew up with in Wolverhampton and the people I represent in North Nottinghamshire.”
He added: “The divide in British politics has become one between the labor party of the Reformation and the pompous party of the Conservative Party.”
Badenoch, meanwhile, said the former front-line defender was a right-wing “pastich”.
“I know what I believe in. I know what I stand for. Robert has an imitation of what he thinks the right wing is and then he performs towards that. It was always about his personal ambition,” he told the Telegraph.
The opposition leader ruled out any future right-wing deal with Reform.
Jenrick said joining Farage’s party was “uniting the right”.
Badenoch said the right was “not a single, homogeneous bloc”.
He said: “Many on the right actively dislike Reform. Trying to ‘unite’ risks losing as many voters as it gains.”
“Reform isn’t interested in fixing the country; they’re interested in turmoil. We’re not offering the same thing, and I don’t want voters to think we are.”
Reform said May 7 would be a cutoff point for accepting defectors from the Conservative Party.
Farage said this would be the “deadline” for current and former MPs, as well as local councillors, to leave.
“Those taking part must be firm in their belief that established political parties are breaking Britain,” he wrote in the Telegraph.
He said: “This is decision time, and if that sounds like an ultimatum, it is.”
Asked whether he would be on high alert about MPs potentially trying to switch sides before crucial local elections are due on May 7, Badenoch said: “I think people have to wonder why they set this deadline.
“Maybe they’re worried they won’t be able to get anyone anymore.
“But honestly this is a distraction from the serious things going on in the country right now.
“He likes to talk about reform, about divisions, about himself and the polls. We talk about the country and the things that matter to you.”
He told broadcasters it had been an “interesting week” and signaled his willingness to purge disloyal Conservatives from the party.
