Robert Jenrick sacked by Kemi Badenoch over ‘clear evidence he was plotting to defect’ – UK politics live | Politics
Kemi Badenoch sacks Robert Jenrick for plotting to defect
Kemi Badenoch has sacked Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, for plotting to defect.
She has posted this on social media.
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.
Key events
Evidence that Jenrick about to defect ‘totally irrefutable’, Tories say
This is what a Tory source told PA Media about Robert Jenrick being sacked.
We have had lots of reports coming in that he was meeting with Reform. He went for dinner with Nigel Farage last month, he had been speaking to people within Westminster about the possibility of a defection.
His team has spoken to various people, including journalists, about defection.
Kemi doesn’t take decisions lightly, she thinks about these things, she analyses things properly. But the evidence was just totally irrefutable that this was going to be done to inflict maximum pain on the party.
Rebecca Harris, the Tory chief whip, was the person who told Robert Jenrick this morning that he was being sacked from the shadow cabinet and suspended from the party, Ben Riley-Smith reports at the Telegraph. Kemi Badenoch did not speak to Jenrick herself.
Farage claims he will announce Labour defection next week
At his press conference in Scotland, Nigel Farage was asked if any Reform UK members objected to Tories joining the party.
He replied:
The worries I get from within Reform are, one, will they bring Tory infighting with them? Because we had four and a half years of psychodrama with that last Conservative government? They fought each other in public, they fought each other in private. And so if people want to bring that with them, they’re not wanted by our membership, they’re not wanted by our board, and they’re not wanted by me.
And secondly, you know, we will not be a Tory party 2.0 because we have a completely different set of policies and people [who join] have to say they admit that net zero, mass migration, North Sea taxes and many other things were a terrible mistake. They have to make real mea culpas.
But Farage went on:
I’ll have a Labour defection next week and that’ll change the script.
At his press conference in Scotland Nigel Farage has just said, “hand on heart”, that Robert Jenrick was not planning to join Reform “in the next 24 hours”.
These are from Steven Swinford, the Times’ politcal editor, on the Jenrick sacking.
Nigel Farage is said to have been in talks with Robert Jenrick for weeks if not months
We picked up rumours of a lunch between them in December that was heavily denied by both sides at the time
It sounds like Kemi Badenoch’s team got hold of a copy of Robert Jenrick’s resignation speech after it was left ‘lying around’. It was a ‘near final’ text
He cancelled a speaking engagement this weekend, and the thinking was that he was due to announce his defection in the next 24 hours
The Tories were also aware that he met Nigel Farage in December. One source said that the meeting took place in Parliament
It doesn’t sound like either Reform UK or Robert Jenrick knew this was coming
Kemi Badenoch appears to have caught them by complete surprise
She was said to be furious that Jenrick came to shadow cabinet on Tuesday and behaved as if nothing was going on
Jenrick is also said to have sat through a shadow cabinet away day last week and taken copious notes about the party’s strategy
Farage said that he regarded Robert Jenrick as part of the Tory failure on immigration. But the “one big tig” in his favour for Reform UK was the fact that he resigned from Rishi Sunak’s government, Farage said.
Farage claims Badenoch ‘panicked’, and that Reform UK was not planning to unveil Jenrick as defector later today
Farage says he was not planning to unveil Robert Jenrick as a defector at his press confence in Westminster this afternoon.
Asked to confirm that he had been speaking to Jenrick about defecting, Farage says he has already confirmed that.
He says he thinks Kemi Badenoch “panicked” and he implies she thought Jenrick was going to defect this afternoon.
I suspect she’s added up two and two and made five. I can confirm – hand on heart, honestly, look you in the eye – I was not going to be unveiling Robert Jenrick at 430 this afternoon.
Asked if Jenrick was planning to defect to Reform UK, Farage jokes that he could have been planning to defect to the Liberal Democrats.
But he says he has been speaking to many senior Tories about possible defections.
He says he welcomes defectors from other parties. But he also says the “sheer level of failures of 14 years, of broken manifesto commitments” can be be a problem.
He says he will give Jenrick a call later this afternoon.
Farage says ‘of course’ he has spoken to Jenrick, but Jenrick not ‘on verge’ of signing up to Reform
Nigel Farage, speaking at his press conference in Scotland, has said that “of course” he has had conversations with Robert Jenrick, who was sacked by Kemi Badenoch this morning for planning to defect.
UPDATE: Farage said:
I have had conversations with a number of very senior conservatives over the course of the last week, the last month. A lot of them realise that for all the talk on 8 May the Conservative Party will cease to be a national party. They will be obliterated in Scotland, Wales, the red wall councils.
As far as Mr Jenrick is concerned, of course I have talked to Robert Jenrick. Was I on the verge of signing him up? No. But we have had conversations.
Badenoch says Jenrick wanted his defection to be ‘most damaging’ to Tory party
Here is the text of Kemi Badenoch’s video statement about Robert Jenrick.
This morning I removed the Conservative whip from Robert Jenrick after dismissing him from the shadow cabinet.
I was very sorry to be presented with clear, irrefutable evidence, not just that he was preparing to defect, but he was planning to so in the most damaging way to the Conservative party and shadow cabinet colleagues.
It is my responsibility to protect our party and faced with that information I took the only decision that any responsible leader could because the British public are tired of political psychodrama …
When I was elected leader, I committed to doing politics differently.
Disloyalty and dishonesty undermine trust in politics. They are also disrespectful to our party members, our councillors and MPs and most of all voters. You all deserve better.
The Conservatives suffered a heavy defeat in 2024. That was painful. But we are rebuilding with strong principles, clean plans and a serious team united around a shared purpose.
When individuals choose to walk away from that effort for personal ambition, that tells you nothing about the Conservative party and everything you need to know about them.
There will be more to say, and I know a lot of commentary, about this decision.
But I want you all to be in no doubt that, at a time of global uncertainty, I am focused on holding the government to account, ensuring they are acting in the national interest and that Conservatives deliver a proper plan for a stronger economy, stronger borders and a stronger Britain.
Badenoch says Robert Jenrick was planning to defect. She does not say to which party, but it is likely to have been Reform UK. Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, had scheduled a press conference in Westminster this afternoon, and Reform did not tell us what it was for.
Kemi Badenoch sacks Robert Jenrick for plotting to defect
Kemi Badenoch has sacked Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, for plotting to defect.
She has posted this on social media.
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.
Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, is holding is press conference in Scotland. There is a live feed here.
Streeting ‘shocked’ police chief behind Maccabi Tel Aviv ban still in post
Wes Streeting, the health secretary, has said he would be “horrified” if the chief constable of West Midlands police remains in his post “by the end of the day”, describing his behaviour as a “stain on his character”. Neha Gohil has the story.
Liz Kendall welcomes Elon Musk acting to stop Grok creating sexualised deepfakes, and thanks those who spoke out
Liz Kendall, the technology secretary, has welcomed the news that Elon Musk’s X announced it had stopped its Grok AI tool from letting users, including for premium subscribers, digitally undress images of women and children.
As Sky News reports, Kendall said:
I welcome this move from X, though I will expect the facts to be fully and robustly established by Ofcom’s ongoing investigation.
Our Online Safety Act is and always has been about keeping people safe on social media – especially children – and it has given us the tools to hold X to account in recent days.
I also want to thank those who have spoken out against this abuse, above all the victims. I shall not rest until all social media platforms meet their legal duties and provide a service that is safe and age appropriate to all users.
We will continue to stand up for British values and to uphold the laws of this land.
Here is the announcement about the news from X.
And here is our story about it, by Robert Booth and Dara Kerr.
UK economy grew by better-than-expected 0.3% in November despite budget uncertainty
The UK economy grew by a stronger-than-expected 0.3% in November despite uncertainty around Rachel Reeves’s budget, official figures show. Heather Stewart has the story.
Streeting welcomes second biggest monthly drop in hospital waiting lists in England in 15 years
NHS England says November saw “the second biggest drop in the waiting list for 15 years outside of the early days of the pandemic”.
As PA Media reports, the waiting list for routine hospital treatment in England has fallen to its lowest level since early 2023. PA says:
An estimated 7.31 million treatments were waiting to be carried out at the end of November 2025, relating to 6.17 million patients, down from 7.40 million treatments and 6.24 patients at the end of October.
The number of treatments waiting to be carried out is now at its lowest level since February 2023, when it stood at 7.22 million.
The list hit a record high in September 2023, with 7.77 million treatments and 6.50 million patients.
Commenting on the figures, Wes Streeting, the health secretary, said:
For too long, patients were promised change in the NHS but saw little of it. This government is turning promises into change people can actually feel.
Waiting lists are down by more than 312,000 and more patients are being treated within 18 weeks. November saw the second biggest monthly drop in waiting lists in 15 years. That means faster care, less anxiety for families and people back on their feet and back to work.
Steve Reed claims elections to ‘zombie councils’ pointless, as at least 22 authorities request elections delay for May
Good morning. Before Christmas the government announced that 63 councils in England (there is a full list of them here) would be asked if they wanted to postpone local elections due in May. They are all in areas where local government is being reorganised, and the government said, because reorganisation takes up time and money, some of them might find running elections at the same time difficult. Alison McGovern, the local government minister, wrote to council leaders saying they had until midnight on 15 January (tonight) to reply. The government will take the final decision, but McGovern said, if councils request a delay, it will be minded to agree.
Most councils have now taken a decision and a BBC survey says that 23 of them have decided to ask for a delay, and 34 will let the elections go ahead as planned. The other seven have not said. Max Kendix from the Times has done the same exercise and he says, by the end of the day, he expects 27 councils to have come out in favour of a delay – and ministers to approve all 27 of those applications. He says:
The councils cover more than 5.2 million people and 3.7 million registered voters who will no longer get to choose their local councillors this year.
Almost 600 councillors, including just under 200 Labour councillors, will not have to defend their seat this year. Two thirds of the Labour councils which were asked whether they wanted to delay chose to say that they did, compared with just under a third of Tories.
This is in line with what the Daily Telegraph found when it carried out a survey last week.
The Conservatives have strongly criticised the decision to allow elections to be postponed and, according to the Telegraph, Reform UK plans to try using a judicial review to ensure all the elections have to go ahead. Nigel Farage’s party is currently doing very well in local council byelections, and so it is no surprise that he wants as many people to vote in the May council elections as possible.
The Telegraph has also launched a campaign to scrap the clause in the Local Government Act 2000 that allows ministers to delay elections using secondary legislation. Before that, if ministers wanted to postpone elections, they needed an act of parliament, which is much harder to pass.
But, in an article for the Times, Steve Reed, the housing, communities and local government secretary, has defended the decision to allow councils to delay elections. He argues that the reorganistion is essential and that councillors could be elected in May for local authorties that would soon cease to exist anyway.
He says “running a series of elections for short-lived zombie councils will be costly, time consuming and will take scarce resources away from frontline services like fixing potholes and social care”.
He also accuses the opposition parties of being hypocritical, or self-interested.
The Conservatives, who themselves delayed elections in North Yorkshire, Somerset, Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire, are confused.
On the one hand they won’t stand in the way if their local leaders want delays, but on the other they accuse Labour of being “scared of voters”.
The Liberal Democrat leader, Sir Ed Davey, called delays a “breach of human rights” despite his party requesting one in Cheltenham. And of course Reform UK, who will take any issue and try to use it to benefit themselves, regardless of whether it will benefit the public.
They want pointless elections, Labour wants to fix potholes. Outside of Westminster it’s obvious what’s more important.
Here is the agenda for the day.
9.30am: Lisa Nandy, the culture secretary, takes questions in the Commons.
9.30am: NHS England publishes its monthly hospital performance figures.
11am: Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, holds a press conference in Scotland where he will say who’s been chosen as the party’s leader in Scotland.
11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
Morning: Keir Starmer is on an energy-related visit in Scotland with Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, and Douglas Alexander, the Scottish secretary.
Afternoon: Kemi Badenoch is on a visit in Edinburgh, where she will be joined by Russell Findlay, the Scottish Conservative leader, and Andrew Bowie, the shadow Scottish secretary.
4.30pm: Farage holds a press conference in London.
And Yvette Cooper, the foreign secretary, is on a visit to the Arctic Circle region of Norway.
If you want to contact me, please post a message below the line when comments are open (between 10am and 3pm), or message me on social media. I can’t read all the messages BTL, but if you put “Andrew” in a message aimed at me, I am more likely to see it because I search for posts containing that word.
If you want to flag something up urgently, it is best to use social media. You can reach me on Bluesky at @andrewsparrowgdn.bsky.social. The Guardian has given up posting from its official accounts on X, but individual Guardian journalists are there, I still have my account, and if you message me there at @AndrewSparrow, I will see it and respond if necessary.
I find it very helpful when readers point out mistakes, even minor typos. No error is too small to correct. And I find your questions very interesting too. I can’t promise to reply to them all, but I will try to reply to as many as I can, either BTL or sometimes in the blog.
