Tory turncoat Robert Jenrick was heckled as he made his first public appearance on his home turf since defecting to Reform.
A man was led out from the event in Newark after angrily shouting at the MP as he walked onstage. The furious protester was frogmarched out by security staff as Reform loyalists booed.
Hundreds of party supporters packed into the hastily-convened rally in Newark after Mr Jenrick turned his back on his former colleagues. Mr Jenrick meekly told the man: “Good to see you sir.”
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Getty Images)
It put a dampener on Reform’s efforts to welcome the controversial former Conservative minister to the fold. It comes amid growing anger over Mr Jenrick’s defection.
He announced he was joining Reform on Thursday last week after Kemi Badenoch sacked him for plotting. In a speech to the party faithful, Mr Jenrick admitted he had made the jump to Reform “slightly earlier than I expected”.
But he told the rally: “I have never felt stronger and more certain about anything I have done in my life.”
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Andrew Stenning/Daily Mirror/Daily Express)
And in a brutal dig at his former colleagues – who he pretended to be loyal to a week ago – he said: “In joining Reform, I have resolved to never, ever defend the indefensible again.
“I didn’t just leave the Conservatives because they can’t fix Britain, and they can’t, take my word for it… I left because Reform will fix Britain.”