'We'd been on high alert' - How Jenrick's dramatic sacking and defection unfolded
Robert Jenrick was sitting in a large wood-panelled room in parliament on Wednesday afternoon, alongside Kemi Badenoch and the remainder of the Conservative shadow cabinet, discussing foreign policy. One of those in the room said,
We'd been in a high state of alert. "We've been hearing from many people that he was on manoeuvres for a long time. We knew about at least one evening meeting with Farage in December.He was really upbeat and jolly. Within 24 hours, a sensational leak from inside Jenrick's own Commons office could result in him being booted from the party he joined as a child. And he's decided to support Reform, the country's biggest competitor. Jenrick had been on defection watch for months, and Badenoch's staff were picking up troubling signals behind the scenes. A senior conservative says,
Secret discussions
In fact, Jenrick had been having even more private discussions with Reform figures for four months, including with the party's chief.
a Farage ally says. Was Jenrick given a top cabinet job in a potential future Reform government? According to the senior Reform source,With Nigel, we had multiple conversations and many one-to-one meetings,
nothing was provided.Honestly, genuinely nothing.
The leak
Badenoch's shadow cabinet meeting at 17:00 a. M. On Wednesday, she was escorted and shown what her experts immediately knew was a bombshell leak. A source with knowledge of Jenrick's operation had sent the Tory leadership a copy of Jennick's classified defection speech, which included excoriating attacks on shadow cabinet ministers. Jenrick's allies will not comment on the suspected leaker's identity, but do not dispute that the document came from one of his inner circle. However, they deny that the MP was ever concerned with the draft:
Badenoch summoned her closest advisors, including Conservative chief whip Rebecca Harris and a few other shadow cabinet ministers.The address never left Rob's office. The belief that it was left lying around somewhere is untrue.
It's treachery, it's disloyalty,one of those Badenoch consulted in her parliamentary office says.
The Conservative leader found that the only alternative was to move quickly.In these situations, the temptation is to do nothing and hope it goes away, or wait a few days. However, that would have been a cop out. And Kemi is not someone who shoots out.
The sacking
Badenoch awakened before dawn on Thursday and made the final decision to fire Jenrick. She sat down in front of her home computer to film a video announcing that she had been barred from the shadow cabinet and barred the Conservative Party from office. She then rushed to board a flight to Scotland. Jenrick's allies claim he was in his Westminster office later that morning when he received a call from Tory chief whip Rebecca Harris. She told him what the party had found. He pleaded his innocence and called the call abruptly. Badenoch's staff had posted her video within minutes. Jenrick had a brief chat with Nigel Farage shortly after. It was quick
, says one Reform source. We're on: let's do it today,
they said. Jenrick's allies say his defection was the best moment of his career, and he feels liberated
to have had it out the way.
one says.He gave a speech and Q&A to the media with a great deal of notice and under intense pressure,
There were no slip-ups.I think it nullifies a massive Tory assault
Badnoch's supporters argue that her increasing success in prime minister's questions and in opinion polls over the past month increased Jenrick's odds of unseating her as Tory leader were vanishingly small.says Tory king Manuel Manuel -- that Reform is a one-man band and not serious. Because Rob is very serious.
She's succeeding because she's doing well,It's not because Kemi isn't failing that he's done this.
one of the shadow cabinet says.It's been getting the top jobs more difficult. He has no chance of becoming the leader before 2029. So why stay?
Defection decision
Jenrick's decision to write a complete defection speech is undoubtedly proof that his mind was not made up before Badenoch made her surprise move. One close to him says, Rob had decided.
It was a question of when.
He was very strange at the away day.They became increasingly angry after being told off by coworkers for speaking out against grooming gangs and shaming the UK's citizenship of British-Egyptian dissident Alaa Abd El Fattah, a decision taken under the Conservatives. The final straw appears to have been a wrangle in a shadow cabinet away from the cabinet over whether Britain was broken on Thursday. One of the many people presenter said,
he said, he was taking a lot of notes.His body language was restricted, his chair was moved back from the table,
We can't say that. Because it implies we broke it.When asked if they thought Britain was broken, Jenrick's telling the shadow cabinet were asked unless they believed it was broken. He said yes. Some agreed, but others said:
It's a traditional home of traitors.If that away day was a turning point in Robert Jenrick's political career and the right of British politics, it seems fitting that the conference took place at a venue overlooking the Tower of London. One of those who was there jokes,
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