In a dramatic political realignment, former Conservative minister Robert Jenrick has defected to Reform UK, delivering a blistering condemnation of his former party as "failed" and lacking the courage for necessary change.
A Scathing Exit and a Frontbench Sacking
The seismic move on Thursday, 15 January 2026, came just hours after Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch sacked Mr Jenrick from her shadow cabinet. Mrs Badenoch stated she was presented with "clear, irrefutable evidence that he was plotting in secret to defect" in a manner designed to inflict maximum damage on his colleagues.
Appearing at a Westminster press conference alongside Reform leader Nigel Farage, the MP for Newark did not hold back. "I can't kid myself any more," Mr Jenrick declared. "The party hasn't changed and it won't. The bulk of the party don't get it. Don't have the stomach for the radical change this country needs."
Listing the Failures: Migration, Courts, and Defence
In his damning assessment, Mr Jenrick claimed the Conservatives "are not sorry" for their governmental mistakes. He pointed to a catalogue of issues he believes the party has mishandled:
- Continuously rising migration levels.
- A severe backlog in the court system.
- Prisons described as "overflowing".
- A British army that has become too small.
He expanded his critique to include the Labour Party, arguing that "Both Labour and the Conservatives broke Britain" and are now dominated by individuals without the competence or backbone to fix it. He accused Labour of starting mass migration, but said the Conservatives had significantly ramped it up after 2019.
Farage Hails a 'Big Day' for the Centre-Right
Nigel Farage heralded the defection as a pivotal moment, calling it a "big day in the realignment of the genuine centre-right of this country". He predicted Mr Jenrick's move would bring many more voters to Reform and announced the ex-Tory would be joining Reform's "front line team".
In a pointed jibe, Mr Farage joked he would "buy Kemi lunch next week and say thank you", suggesting she had handed him the party's most popular figure on a plate. He added that her actions may have done more than anyone to realign British centre-right politics against a "dreadful Labour Government".
The press conference was not without awkwardness, featuring a lengthy delay between Mr Farage's announcement and Mr Jenrick's appearance. Mr Farage quipped to waiting journalists, "Kemi hasn't called him and asked him back." Tory sources later suggested the delay was because Mr Jenrick was hastily rewriting his speech after the Conservatives pre-emptively released extracts of it to the media.
In response to the defection, Mrs Badenoch has appointed West Sussex MP Nick Timothy, a former Home Office adviser to Theresa May, to Mr Jenrick's former shadow cabinet role. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer questioned why it took Mrs Badenoch "so long" to sack Mr Jenrick, whom he accused of making "toxic comments to try and divide our country".
