Thursday 15 January 2026 4:50 pm
| Updated:
Thursday 15 January 2026 5:18 pm
Robert Jenrick has announced his defection to Reform UK after Tory leader Kemi Badenoch sacked him for plotting to switch over “in secret”.
Hours after Badenoch announced Jenrick’s suspension from the Conservative Party, the former shadow justice secretary appeared in a press conference alongside Nigel Farage promoting the transfer.
In a press conference he arrived late to, Jenrick saeid Britain was “in decline” and said Farage would help revive the country’s fortunes.
In his immigration, crime and economics-focused speech, Jenrick said: “I challenge anyone to argue anything other than Britain is broken.
“We’ve had 20 to 30 years of this [decline]. Why has this happened? Because the two main parties are rotten,” Jenrick said.
“Our country is in a precarious, risky position. My frist loyalty, our first loyalty, must be to our country. Turning it around will require each and everyone one of us to speak the truth.”
Jenrick used his statement to hit out at Tory policies around small boat crossings, net zero and “failed” policymaking.
“There was hardly a principle they didn’t betray.”
Following a long denunciation of the past two decades of British politics, Jenrick said:
“I am proud to join the more than two hundred and seventy thousand people who are members of Reform UK. To join this incredible movement.”
He described reform as “a national movement that will pool Britain’s talents, experience and expertise – put previous differences to one side – and deliver the real change we need.
He concluded by saying that “at this hour, with Britain on the brink, in real danger…don’t sit on the sidelines. Britain is broken. Britain needs Reform. And Reform needs you.”
kemi shrugs off the ‘psychodrama’
In Badenoch’s statement on X earlier on Thursday, the leader of the opposition announced she held “clear, irrefutable evidence” that Jenrick was preparing to leave the Tories “in a way designed to be as damaging as possible to his Shadow Cabinet colleagues and the wider Conservative Party”.
“The British public are tired of political psychodrama and so am I,” Badenoch said in her statement.
“They saw too much of it in the last government, they’re seeing too much of it in this government.”
“Disloyalty and dishonesty undermine trust in politics. They’re also disrespectful to our party members, our councillors, MPs, and most of all, voters.”
Nick Timothy, who opposed the Labor government on policing issues and formerly acted as Theresa May’s chief of staff, was announced as the new shadow justice secretary.
Badenoch said jenrick’s replacement on the front bench would be a “massive asset” to the shadow cabinet.
It is indeed understood that Tory officials found that Jenrick had “left some stuff lying around”.
Shortly before Jenrick’s speech, the Tories released contents of the statement that he had planned to deliver.
Reform piles pressure on Tories
There have been weeks of speculation around whether Jenrick would defect to Reform.
Jenrick, who lost to Badenoch in the 2024 Tory leadership race, held talks with Nigel Farage about a possible defection. The former Tory figure was also not planned to join the party, Farage revealed, until Badenoch “jumped the gun”.
Farage added he was holding discussions with senior Tory and Labour figures in recent weeks.
There may also be mounting questions around the strength of Badenoch’s leadership in Tory ranks,with the party struggling to regain credibility with voters and gain a higher portion of the voter share in national polling.
Badenoch will hope that her decisive action on Jenrick will strike a note with voters and Tory members hoping to see more authoritative leadership in senior politicians.
The long line Jenrick could follow
The debacle sets the Tories up for an eventful few months in the run-up to local authority elections in May.
With his defection, he joins former Tory MP Danny Kruger on those opposition benches, along with a host of other former Conservatives to have joined Farage’s party.
Other critically important figures include Lee Anderson and former culture secretary Nadine Dorries.
Former Conservative Party chairman Nadhim Zahawi was the last major defector to Reform.
In a press conference this week, Zahawi said he joined up with Farage due to the party’s stance on tackling crime and stagnant growth in the UK economy.
However, the Tories hit back at Zahawi’s move by saying he had “begged” for a peerage.
“Given he was sacked for his dodgy tax affairs,this was never going to happen,” a source said,
“His defection tells you everything you need to know about Reform being a repository for disgraced politicians.”