Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick sacked

Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick has been sacked by Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch.

In a social media post, she said: “I have sacked Robert Jenrick from the shadow cabinet, removed the whip and suspended his party membership with immediate effect.”

Rumours that Jenrick was planning to run for the Tory leadership have been swirling around Westminster for months.

Now Badenoch says she has been presented with “clear, irrefutable evidence” about a plot for him to defect to Reform instead, ” in a way designed to be as damaging as possible” to the Conservatives.

With Nadim Zahawi the latest and most senior defector to Nigel Farage’s Reform party on Monday, Jenrick’s plot seems likely to have been to follow in his footsteps at some point.

A Conservative source told the BBC there was “plenty of evidence” Jenrick was getting closer to Reform.

The source said “material” had been left “lying around”, which provided “irrefutable evidence” he was preparing to defect.

They added that the defection was being planned “quite soon” and “in the most damaging way possible for the party”.

It’s alleged Mr Jenrick had dinner Farage last month – and his team had been speaking to “various people” about the possibility.

Jenrick has not responded to requests for comments so far.

Asked about Jenrick’s sacking at a press conference in Edinburgh, Farage denied being part of a plot to unveil Jenrick as a Reform candidate on Thursday afternoon, when he is scheduled to hold another press conference in London.

He claimed Badenoch had “panicked” and “added up two plus two to make five”, adding “There’s been quite a long list of former Tory MPs that are joining us, so she’s aware that there is that move”.

Asked whether Jenrick would be welcome to join Reform, he said he would call Jenrick this afternoon to talk about it.

“The one big tick against his name is that he did resign as minister for immigration,” he said.

“I will give him a call this afternoon.”

Farage also admitted he had “absolutely” been in talks with Jenrick about the possibility of joining Reform.

In a post accompanied by a two-minute video, Badenoch said: “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.”

Following news of his sacking, Labour MP Josh Simons asked Reform MP Sarah Pochin in the House of Commons whether Jenrick was joining her party and she responded by smiling and giving a wide-armed shrug.