Robert Jenrick sacked latest: Badenoch urged to publish ‘irrefutable evidence’ Tory rival was about to defect

Kemi Badenoch must show evidence of Robert Jenrick’s plan to defect to Reform, former Conservative MP Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg said.

“If the evidence isn’t there, it looks like he’s knee-jerk to a potential rival,” he said.

But he told Sky News he had made a bold move that, if the evidence was there, would strengthen his lead.

In a sign of the sudden nature of Ms Badenoch’s decision to sack Mr Jenrick, she did not attend Parliament to introduce a bill on behalf of the Conservatives, as detailed in the House of Commons resolution.

Nigel Farage has said he is the “ultimate leader” of Reform UK, as he announced Reform UK’s new Scottish leader, after Robert Jenrick was sacked over allegations he was planning to leave the party.

Asked whether Reform’s new Scottish leader, Malcolm Offord, could throw out policies he doesn’t like, Mr Farage said: “I’m the leader of the party, I’ve got quite a lot of power.”

News that Kemi Badenoch had sacked Mr Jenrick during the press conference emerged amid rumors that the senior Tory was planning a leadership coup.

Some Tory MPs have already backed their leader’s decision to sack Robert Jenrick.

Tory chairman Kevin Hollinrake praised Kemi Badenoch’s move, saying: “Clear. Determined. Strong.”

Conservative Party leader Paul Holmes said the dismissal was a sign of “strong leadership and decisive action”.

The Independent’s political correspondent Millie Cooke reports:

Robert Jenrick’s rumored departure has thrown Kemi Badenoch’s party into chaos, while she has been left in political limbo having been kicked out of the Conservative Party and has yet to officially join Reform UK.

But there is a clear winner: Nigel Farage.

If Jenrick joins Reform UK, he will help solve one of the party’s core problems: the perception that party leaders lack sufficient experience of government.

And given Jenrick is now politically homeless, he will have far less bargaining power in his talks with Farage than he did before.

Somehow, without doing much of anything, the leader of the Reformation found himself in a position of enormous power here.

However, their relationship has been far from smooth, despite the Newark MP reportedly courting Reform and having dinner with Nigel Farage last month.

Just last year, they hurled insults on social media; Mr Jenrick has previously said he wants to send the Clacton MP “back into retirement”, while Mr Farage has referred to him as a “conman”.

Here’s what Nigel Farage and Robert Jenrick had to say about each other:

Kate Devlin, The Independent’s Whitehall editor, reports:

Conservative sources say Mr Jenrick was fired after seeing “completely irrefutable” evidence that he was planning to defect to Reform UK.

This included news that he would meet with Reform and dinner with Nigel Farage last month.

They also claim they received a copy of her resignation speech within the last 24 hours, which is why Ms Badenoch moved out.

It was believed that he was considering two options: to replace him as leader or, failing that, to defect to the Reformation.

But his supporters say the real reason he was sacked and kicked out of the party was because they were planning a leadership challenge against Ms Badenoch after the May election, which was expected to be disastrous for the Conservatives.

Independent He had approached Ms Badenoch’s office this week after seeing evidence of his leadership bid and Mr Jenrick’s allies were drafting the letters of no confidence needed to trigger a Conservative Party leadership contest.

A Jenrick ally said: Independent: “This is just a move to overthrow Robert. There was no reason for him to run. Many of us saw him as the elected leader. This could backfire on him badly”.

The Liberal Democrats said Kemi Badenoch’s sacking of Robert Jenrick “made the Traitors’ roundtable look united”.

A party source said: “The Conservative shadow cabinet is making the Traitors roundtable look united.

“The country deserves better than a collapsed Labor government and the same old Tory chaos.”

The Conservative councilor for Nottinghamshire County Council’s Newark West ward said he felt “completely betrayed” by Robert Jenrick after Kemi Badenoch said he planned to defect.

“Obviously I’m very, very disappointed in Robert,” he said.

“I’m a big believer in loyalty and he showed a complete lack of loyalty here.

“I think Kemi did absolutely the right thing when she found evidence of what he was planning to do. She showed real leadership there to kick him out, to kick him out of the party, and we’ll deal with the aftermath.”

Asked if he felt betrayed, Mr Girling said: “We were completely betrayed. We supported Robert with his political passion, you know, he clearly wanted to be leader (of the Conservative Party).”

“Obviously he’s disappointed that he didn’t get that. But it’s not limited to the efforts of this association that has always supported him, you know, and he’s really just kind of turned his back on all of that, that loyalty, and gone his own way.”

“I think this is really embarrassing.”