Kemi Badenoch Dismisses Rival Robert Jenrick Amid Defection Allegations

Badenoch's Decision and Its Implications

LONDON, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Britain's Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch sacked one-time leadership rival Robert Jenrick from her senior policy team and suspended him from the party on Thursday, saying he was plotting to defect.

Jenrick lost to Badenoch in the 2024 contest to lead the opposition party after their crushing national election defeat and was then, in an effort to reunite the party, given the role of justice spokesperson.

Jenrick has used that position to build a personal profile on key issues like immigration and crime that many saw as a platform for a future challenge to Badenoch's leadership.

Background on Jenrick's Role

"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," Badenoch said on X.

Speculations on Defection

While Badenoch did not say who she believed Jenrick was planning to defect to, a string of senior Conservative Party figures have defected to Nigel Farage's right-wing populist Reform UK party in recent months.

Reactions from Political Figures

Farage said he had had conversations with Jenrick and had "little doubt it's been in his mind" that he was considering defecting to Reform, although an agreement for Jenrick to join his party was not imminent.

"I’m very surprised that this news has broken," he told reporters in Scotland. "Was I on the verge of signing a document with him? No. But have we had conversations? Yes.”

(Reporting by Catarina Demony, Muvija M and Andrew MacAskill; writing by William James)