Four days before Robert Jenrick was kicked out of the Tories for planning to defect to Reform UK, he spoke 'at length' with Kemi Badenoch on the phone about party strategy. The week before he had sat through a shadow cabinet awayday taking copious notes.
While the Tory leader had been aware for some time of speculation over her shadow justice secretary's future, she had no hard proof of his plans, so it was business as usual. That all changed just 24 hours after their one-to-one conversation.
On Monday, senior figures in Badenoch's office were sent screenshots of what one said was 'irrefutably' Jenrick's entire resignation speech from what sources claimed was a mole in his office, along with the accompanying media plan. His speech implored fellow Tories to defect with him, singling out senior figures such as Priti Patel and Mel Stride for criticism, and added that Nigel Farage was the 'right person' to lead the country.
Badenoch's senior aides were aware that Farage was due to appear on the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg show and feared he would drop heavy hints before announcing the defection. They advised Badenoch to sack Jenrick and kick him out of the party. 'Kemi was regretful; she wished we weren't in this position,' one source said. 'But she was absolutely clear and focused: Rob had to go.'
Badenoch left it to her chief whip, Rebecca Harris, to phone Jenrick, a move which one ally described as 'delicious'. Speaking to Harris, the MP angrily denied he was planning to defect. Badenoch released a video message laying out the charges, timed to coincide with Farage's press conference in Scotland.
Condemnation of Jenrick from across the Conservative party was swift and brutal. One Tory MP called him a 'coward'. Another said he was 'a traitor', dismissing him as 'ruthlessly ambitious and unprincipled'. A former cabinet minister added: 'Jenrick was a snake in the grass in the Rishi years, you cannot trust him.'
