Nigel Farage breaks silence on Robert Jenrick sacking and admits secret talks with Tory
Nigel Farage quipped that he would buy Robert Jenrick as rumours of a defection went into overdrive after he was sacked by Kemi Badenoch
Nigel Farage said he has spoken with Robert Jenrick(Image: PA Wire)
Nigel Farage has admitted he has held talks with Robert Jenrick about defecting.
The former Tory minister and leadership candidate is widely expected to be the latest defection after being sensationally sacked by Kemi Badenoch. She said she had discovered “irrefutable” evidence he was planning to defect, and accused him of trying to inflict the most possible damage on his colleagues.
Speaking at a press conference in Edinburgh, the Reform UK leader said: “Of course, I’ve spoken to Robert Jenrick.
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“Was I on the verge of signing a document with him? No. But have we had conversations? Yes.”
He went on to say: “I’ll give him a ring this afternoon. I might even buy him a pint.”
Ms Badenoch posted on X: “I have sacked Robert Jenrick from the Shadow Cabinet, removed the whip and suspended his party membership with immediate effect.
“I was presented with clear, irrefutable evidence that he was plotting in secret to defect 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. They saw too much of it in the last government, they’re seeing too much of it in THIS government. I will not repeat those mistakes.”
Responding at a press conference in Edinburgh, Mr Farage said: “Of course, I’ve spoken to Robert Jenrick. Was I on the verge of signing a document with him? No. But have we had conversations? Yes.”
If he does make the move to Reform, it will show Mr Jenrick has made peace with the Reform leader, who has accused him of lacking convictions. In a brutal putdown during the Tory leadership race, the Reform leader claimed he is presenting himself as a hardliner “for political gain and not out of conviction”.
Mr Farage wrote in 2024: “Formerly a man that believed in nothing, Robert Jenrick now pitches himself as the great hardliner. This is almost certainly done for political gain and not out of conviction. He will divide the party. I doubt that Jenrick will last long if he wins.”
He also branded Mr Jenrick a fraud for ramping up the use of asylum hotels when he was Immigration Minister. Last August he wrote: “When Robert Jenrick was immigration minister he grew the number of illegal migrants living in free hotels to 56,000. He is no friend of Epping.”
And just last week Reform’s London mayoral candidate Laila Cunningham said she had no desire to see him. He told the Daily T podcast: “It was under him [Jenrick] that the hotel migrant situation flourished. You know, we had a peak amount of hotels.”
Mr Jenrick was Immigration Minister when the Tories were in power, and boasted about securing asylum hotels as the backlog swelled. Ms Cunningham went on: “I don’t feel that the Conservatives have atoned for their sins.
“I’m actually quite sick and tired of them going up there and calling out all these problems that they caused and offering solutions.”
Despite these misgivings, Reform have welcomed a number of former Tory MPs into the fold – most recently Nadhim Zahawi, who joined on Monday.
