Robert Jenrick has become the latest Westminster figure to be mocked online after defecting to Reform UK – with social media users turning the former Tory cabinet minister defection speech into an AI-generated spoof video.
The video, which has circulated widely on X, shows Mr Jenrick and Mr Farage reimagined as rap stars standing at the lectern where Mr Jenrick delivered his defection speech earlier today.
In the clip, both men are dressed in extravagant white fur coats, with their chests exposed and heavy gold chains hanging around their necks, as they perform a tongue-in-cheek rap.
The former Shadow Justice Secretary is the most high-profile Conservative to defect to Reform UK so far.
Mr Farage boasted that Mr Jenrick had been ‘handed to me on a plate’ by Kemi Badenoch as he held a press conference in Westminster this evening.
Bizarrely Mr Jenrick failed to appear for several minutes after he was invited up on stage, prompting awkward time-filling from Mr Farage. But when he finally arrived he said: ‘It’s time for the truth.’
He said the Tories had ‘betrayed voters’ and ‘most of the party’ had ‘lost its way’, lacking the ‘stomach’ for ‘real change’.
Mr Jenrick said a key moment had been at a Shadow Cabinet meeting when his colleagues tried to deny that Britain is ‘broken’.
Robert Jenrickhas become the latest Westminster figure to be mocked online after defecting to Reform UK – with social media users turning the former Tory cabinet minister defection speech into an AI-generated spoof video
The video, which has circulated widely on X, shows Mr Jenrick and Mr Farage reimagined as rap stars standing at the lectern where Mr Jenrick delivered his defection speech earlier today
Nigel Farage boasted that Robert Jenrick had been ‘handed to me on a plate’ as he held a press conference in Westminster this evening
‘Over the last year I have realised that I was naive… I respect Kemi. But I don’t trust the Conservative Party on immigration.’
He added: ‘I can’t kid myself any more.’
In an impassioned defence of his choice, Mr Jenrick said: ‘If we don’t get the next government right Britain will likely slip beyond the point of repair.’
The moment marked the culmination of a day of high drama and confusion that could decide the shape of British politics for years.
Mrs Badenoch kicked off the chaos by announcing that she had seen ‘irrefutable evidence’ Mr Jenrick was intending to betray her. ‘He’s Nigel Farage’s problem now,’ she swiped.
Mr Jenrick is alleged to have left the text of a near-completed resignation speech and a ‘media plan’ lying around where it could be discovered – although when challenged by the Tory chief whip Rebecca Harris in a phone call this morning he apparently protested his innocence.
The Conservatives released some details of the text this evening, claiming that Mr Jenrick had been intending to say: ‘If like me, you’ve backed another party but know it’s lost its way, don’t stay. Don’t stay in a party that hasn’t been loyal to you. When your country needs you.’
The AI rap video comes just hours after Mr Jenrick was also mocked online as a contestant on the BBC hit show The Traitors following his dramatic expulsion from the Conservative Party.
The Liberal Democrats were among those quick to seize on the moment, breaking out Photoshop to reimagine Mr Jenrick as a Traitor on the programme.
He was depicted sitting in the show’s iconic confessional chair – used by both Traitors and Faithfuls and described as ‘Robert, 44, Wannabe Prime Minister’.
In an impassioned defence of his choice, Mr Jenrick said: ‘If we don’t get the next government right Britain will likely slip beyond the point of repair.’
Sharing the image online, the Lib Dems added the caption: ‘Tonight’s turret meeting will be pretty awkward.’
Another social media user also posted what appeared to be an AI-generated image of Mr Jenrick wearing a black hood associated with the show, captioned: ‘I am, and have been since the start…A TRAITOR!’
The Trades Union Congress also joined in, posting with tongue firmly in cheek to ask Mr Jenrick – who has consistently voted in favour of anti-union legislation – ‘Do you need a union rep x’.
Others resurrected comparisons between Mr Jenrick and Steve Coogan’s sitcom character Alan Partridge, to whom the politician has previously been unfavourably likened over awkward public stunts, including his much-mocked pursuit of train fare dodgers.
One meme read: ‘Robert Jenrick is the subject of a sacking,’ written in the voice of the fictional broadcaster, alongside an image of Partridge. Another parodied a scene from I’m Alan Partridge in which the character records mundane thoughts into a dictaphone.
Alongside an image of Coogan in character, the caption read: ‘Sack #RobertJenrick for being unloyal, disloyal, and for plotting in secret to defect in a way designed to be as damaging as possible to his employer…call Bill Oddie.’
The online mockery intensified after it emerged that Nigel Farage had previously criticised Mr Jenrick when he was still serving on the Conservative front bench.
During the 2024 Tory leadership contest, Mr Farage wrote in one post: ‘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.’