Robert Jenrick sacked by Kemi Badenoch after ‘plotting to defect’

Evening Standard

Kemi Badenoch said she has sacked Robert Jenrick as shadow justice secretary and kicked him out of the party.The Tory leader said this was due to “irrefutable evidence that he was plotting in secret to defect in a way designed to be as damaging as possible” to his Conservative colleagues.She did not specify which party Mr Jenrick was planning to switch to, but Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said he has “of course” had conversations with the senior frontbencher.

Transcript

00:00This morning, I removed the Conservative whip from Robert Jenrick after dismissing him from the Shadow Cabinet.

00:14I was very sorry to be presented with clear, irrefutable evidence, not just that he was preparing to defect,

00:23but he was planning to do so in the most damaging way possible to the Conservative Party and his Shadow Cabinet colleagues.

00:31It is my responsibility to protect our party, and faced with that information, I took the only decision that any responsible leader could.

00:41I'm very surprised that this news is broken.

00:46Are you, though?

00:48Well, I never reveal private conversations with anybody.

00:50Of course, I've talked to Robert Jenrick.

00:53Was I on the verge of signing a document with him?

00:57No.

00:57But have we had conversations?

00:59Yes.

Category

Transcript

Comments

Recommended