Robert Jenrick Defects To Reform UK After Sacking

On a chilly January morning in Westminster, the British political landscape shifted yet again. Robert Jenrick, once a rising star in the Conservative Party and a key figure on its right flank, was unceremoniously sacked from the shadow cabinet by Tory leader Kemi Badenoch. Within hours, Jenrick emerged on stage at a Reform UK press conference, standing shoulder to shoulder with Nigel Farage and announcing his defection. The move, while not wholly unexpected in a season of Tory turbulence, sent shockwaves through a party already reeling from a string of defections and a persistent slide in the polls.

Jenrick’s dramatic exit unfolded like a political thriller. According to the BBC, Badenoch acted decisively after being presented with what she described as “clear, irrefutable evidence” that Jenrick was plotting to defect in a manner calculated to inflict maximum damage on his colleagues and the wider Conservative Party. “I have a duty to protect my colleagues... and I have a duty to those who vote Conservative,” Badenoch declared. “This has been a good day, bad people are leaving my party.”

The evidence, it seems, was not hard to come by. Conservative sources told Sky News that Jenrick’s team left behind a printed resignation speech and a detailed media plan, inadvertently exposing his intentions. There were also reports of a dinner with Farage in December 2025, and ongoing conversations between Jenrick’s associates and Reform UK. One senior Conservative MP compared the episode to something out of the political satire The Thick Of It, with Jenrick’s plans left lying around for all to see.

Jenrick, for his part, did not deny the plot. Taking the stage with Farage, he launched a scathing attack on his former party, accusing both the Conservatives and Labour of having “broken Britain.” “Britain has been in decline. Britain is in decline,” he said, adding, “Both Labour and the Conservatives broke Britain. And both are now dominated by those without the competence or backbone needed to fix it.” Jenrick insisted he had no ambitions to lead Reform UK, stating, “I want Nigel to be prime minister.”

Nigel Farage, ever the showman, welcomed Jenrick as “the latest Christmas present I’ve ever had,” and thanked Badenoch for expelling her former leadership rival. Farage revealed he'd been in talks with Jenrick for months, although he claimed there were no plans to reveal the defection at the day’s press conference. “Of course, I’ve talked to Robert Jenrick. Was I on the verge of signing a document with him? No. But have we had conversations? Yes,” Farage told reporters, according to Sky News.

The Conservative response was a mixture of relief, anger, and introspection. Several senior Tories welcomed Jenrick’s departure. Rachel Maclean, a former housing minister and now a Conservative peer, did not mince words, branding Jenrick a “dishonest snake.” “Good riddance, not at all surprised given his track record. Kemi displaying strong leadership and members welcome this – we need to get rid of these dishonest snakes,” she told Sky News. Other MPs, like Bob Blackman, praised Badenoch’s “strong and decisive leadership,” a sharp contrast, he said, to the “weakness of the PM and his constant U-turns.”

Not all Conservatives were so sanguine. One backbencher, speaking anonymously, warned that Jenrick’s sacking had “brought civil war in the party into the open.” Keith Girling, chair of Jenrick’s local Newark Association, expressed a sense of betrayal: “I am devastated about it, I feel betrayed. We have supported Robert with his political ambitions over the years and given him the opportunity to do what he did, so to be stabbed in the back by him, I do not feel good about that.”

Labour and the Liberal Democrats wasted no time in seizing on the chaos. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer called Badenoch’s decision a sign of “weakness,” questioning why it had taken her so long to act. “Jenrick has been making toxic comments to try and divide our country for months and months and months and it’s only now, when he’s on the verge of defecting to Reform, that Badenoch gets round to sacking him,” Starmer said. Labour Party chair Anna Turley accused Badenoch of losing control of her party, while Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey described the situation as “one more rat leaving a sinking ship.”

The timing of Badenoch’s move was widely seen as a shrewd piece of political gamesmanship. As The Spectator observed, by preemptively sacking Jenrick before he could defect on his own terms, Badenoch blunted the impact of his departure. Rather than appearing as a principled figure making a stand, Jenrick was cast as a schemer caught in the act. “She saw a threat coming, and she neutralised it,” the magazine noted, adding that Badenoch’s critics may have underestimated her capacity for ruthlessness.

Still, the broader challenges facing the Conservatives remain daunting. The party, led by Badenoch since November 2024, suffered a bruising defeat in the last general election, ending 14 years in government. Polls show Reform UK, buoyed by Farage’s relentless campaigning and a string of high-profile Tory defections—including former Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi and about 20 former MPs—holding a lead over both the Conservatives and Labour. While Badenoch has enjoyed a small bounce in the polls, thanks in part to her aggressive attacks on Labour over tax and welfare, many Tories fear that the party is being outflanked on the right and is struggling to define its identity.

Jenrick’s journey from the moderate “one nation” wing of the Conservatives to the hard right on issues like Europe and immigration has mirrored the party’s own ideological drift. His recent comments, including controversial remarks about the lack of visible white faces in a part of Birmingham and calls to leave the European Convention on Human Rights, have drawn sharp criticism and aligned him closely with Reform UK’s platform.

Despite the internal strife, Badenoch wasted no time in moving forward, appointing former Theresa May aide and West Suffolk MP Nick Timothy as Jenrick’s replacement in the shadow cabinet. She hailed Timothy as “a true Conservative” and “formidable campaigner,” signaling her intention to steady the ship and project an image of unity and discipline.

But unity remains elusive. As the drip-drip of defections continues and the specter of a poor showing in the upcoming May local elections looms, the Conservative Party faces an existential test. For many observers, the events of January 15, 2026, were less about the fate of one ambitious politician and more about the future of Britain’s centre-right. As Daisy Cooper, deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats, put it: “Reform and the Conservatives are two sides of the same coin.” The next few months will reveal whether Badenoch’s show of strength was the start of a Tory revival—or merely a pause in the party’s long, slow decline.

For now, the only certainty is that British politics remains as unpredictable as ever, with old alliances crumbling and new ones emerging in real time.