Robert Jenrick’s departure to Reform UK features heavily on Friday’s front pages. According to the Guardian, the former Conservative shadow minister, who was sacked by Kemi Badenoch for plotting against him, has become “the most senior Conservative Party to switch to Reform”. Jenrick described the Conservatives as a “rotten” and “failing” party.
The Sun imagines Farage, Badenoch and “the exiled Jenrick” as part of the hugely popular TV show The Traitors, with the headline “Traitors” in front of two men in green cloaks. The newspaper describes Badenoch’s actions as “exiling his former leadership rival”.
Similarly, Metro reported that “The Conservatives’ shocking departure mirrors the drama on television.” The newspaper’s front page features a photo of Jenrick clad in a red watch, edited out as a “secret traitor”.
Badenoch toasts “on a day of poison and betrayal” on the front page of Paper after the exile of his “rival Jenrick”. Someone close to the former Tory shadow minister revealed his plan to join Reform England to the Tory leader, according to the paper.
The Independent’s main image shows a smiling Jenrick shaking hands with a cheerful Nigel Farage. A “boastful Farage” thanks Badenoch for “jumping the gun” and handing Robert Jenrick over to Reform “on a plate”, the newspaper reported.
The Daily Mirror calls Reform UK “the party of Tory failures” and asks “would you trust any of them?” he asks.
Badenoch said “bad people are leaving my party” after the Tory leader sacked Jenrick, the Daily Express reported. The newspaper’s headline is Jenrick’s “blast at ‘rotten Tories'”.
The Times reported that the former shadow justice secretary secretly negotiated with Farage “for four months” before being sacked by Badenoch. The paper says the Conservative Party leader was “preemptively removed” after discovering “undeniable evidence” that Jenrick was planning to join Reform.
Jenrick’s statement that his former party is “destroying Britain” appears in the Telegraph’s headline.
The Daily Mail uses its front page to send a message to Reform and Conservatives to “stop fighting each other” and “end the Labor nightmare”.
A “firing line” of ICE agents in Minneapolis looms large over the top of the Financial Times.
Nigel Farage being pranked into making a Cameo video is the focus of the Daily Star’s front page.
