The former Tory minister was sensationally booted out of his own party this week after Kemi Badenoch found evidence he was planning to defect, and has now been branded a snake
Robert Jenrick is a “snake” and “mediocre middle manager” who will damage Reform UK from within, senior Tories have claimed.
The former Tory minister was sensationally booted out of his former party this week after Kemi Badenoch found evidence he was planning to defect. Speaking to the Sunday Mirror, his former colleagues lined up to attack his loyalty, ability, and ego.
Tory chairman Kevin Hollinrake put the decision down to bitterness over being passed over for the Home Secretary job by Rishi Sunak. He said: “Ever since then, he’s been focused on what’s right for Rob, rather than what’s right for the party and the country. It’s sad really.
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“I remember in the leadership contest, when I decided to choose Kemi, which I was always likely to do, Rob literally wouldn’t speak to me for three weeks. He would literally just walk past me, and we were friends and colleagues, so something has been going on in his mind. I think it’s a political mistake, Rob should have played a team game with the Conservative party ”.
Former Justice Secretary Robert Buckland said: “I think Kemi Badenoch played a bad hand well. I think this is good for her, it allows her to stamp the authority on the party, I think a leadership challenge is now out of the window. Robert Jenrick is now Reform’s problem, he’s gone in, and the dynamics now start to change.
“From what has been a one-man band, they now start to look like any other political party. What I heard and saw from him was increasingly the language I didn’t associate with Conservatism at all. We are about bringing the country together. His ambition has outweighed his judgement, and therefore I think he’s a very diminished figure.”
Mr Buckland, who on Friday compared Mr Jenrick to Enoch Powell, also dismissed his claims to have defected for the good of the “country”.
He added: “At a time when trust in politicians is low and not getting higher, does he really think his behaviour and jumping ship in this awkward manner, when he’s got caught in the act, is going to increase trust in politicians? Not a bit. He’s part of the problem, not the solution.”
Another Tory source described Mr Jenrick’s ambition as a “madness” which trumped everything else. They said: “With all the characters there are in Reform, there is going to be a fair sort of jostling. He might get distracted by who’s up and who is down between him and [Zia] Yusuf. He is the ultimate traitor, he lies very freely, and has no notion of loyalty.”
Another senior Tory who worked closely with Mr Jenrick claimed he cared more about himself than the country. They said: “The mask has slipped and Robert Jenrick has been unveiled as a total snake once and for all. His toadying press conference where he kissed the ring and slammed his own record was like watching the emperor parade around with no clothes.
“In government, he was at best a mediocre middle manager. He was so keen to point out these Tory failures in housing and immigration, without once stopping to acknowledge he was the minister responsible. We’ve lost someone who loves the sound of his voice more than he cares about the people of this country. Thank god he wasn’t a minister in more departments, maybe he was the problem all along”.