Andrew Sparrow

January 15, 2026

Farage says Jenrick is joining Reform UK after his sacking by Badenoch – UK politics live | Politics

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Farage says Jenrick is joining party – but Jenrick does not appear on stage when Farage expects

Nigel Farage is speaking at his press conference now.

He says he was due to announce plans to challenge Labour over delaying local elections. He was going to present a legal paper explaining the case for judicial review.

He says many Tories think their party will not exist as a national party after the May elections.

He says notes from Robert Jenrick’s office leaked. Jenrick was not planning to join today, or tomorrow, or next week.

He might not have joined at all.

He thinks it was just 60/40 that Jenrick would have joined, knowing how these negotiations work.

He says, as a result, he had to think quickly.

He says Kemi Badenoch has given him a late Christmas present.

He says he can welcome Jenrick to the party.

This is a big moment that will “help re-align the centre right of British politics”, he says.

But Jenrick does not appear.

Key events

Jenrick arrives to be welcomed into Reform UK by Farage

Farage jokes about what a mess it will be if Jenrick does not appear.

He appears now.

Farage says:

I wondered if you had changed your mind. I was getting a bit worried about it.

Farage and Jenrick are now posing for pictures.

Farage says Jenrick is joining party – but Jenrick does not appear on stage when Farage expects

Nigel Farage is speaking at his press conference now.

He says he was due to announce plans to challenge Labour over delaying local elections. He was going to present a legal paper explaining the case for judicial review.

He says many Tories think their party will not exist as a national party after the May elections.

He says notes from Robert Jenrick’s office leaked. Jenrick was not planning to join today, or tomorrow, or next week.

He might not have joined at all.

He thinks it was just 60/40 that Jenrick would have joined, knowing how these negotiations work.

He says, as a result, he had to think quickly.

He says Kemi Badenoch has given him a late Christmas present.

He says he can welcome Jenrick to the party.

This is a big moment that will “help re-align the centre right of British politics”, he says.

But Jenrick does not appear.

Tories release extracts from what they say is Jenrick’s draft resignation letter

And the Tories have just released extracts from the draft resignation letter obtained by Kemi Badenoch.

A Conservative party spokesperson said:

We have taken the decision to release extracts of the evidence we have been passed of Robert Jenrick’s planned defection. We are in no doubt whatsoever about Jenrick’s involvement in the drafting of these words and his intention to stab his Conservative colleagues in the back.

And here are the extracts.

The Tories and Labour have forfeited the right to govern the United Kingdom. And the mantle now passes to Reform.

Nigel has stood for the real change we need for over a decade. If one puts party allegiance – personal ambition – to one side, he is obviously the right person to lead the movement for it – and delivery of it. And I am convinced Nigel will deliver the real change needed.

Thanks to Zia & Richard, Reform’s policies already meet the moment more than any other party’s. But they and Nigel know the extraordinary challenges Britain faces requires [ sic ] a comprehensive plan to turn things around. Developing the best one possible will be a major priority this year. As will [ sic ], as Nigel has said many times, building and recruiting the team to execute it.

For all these reasons, today, I am proud to become Reform’s 281,000th member. To back Nigel. And join this movement. I know in my heart it’s what’s right by our country.

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.

And, perhaps more importantly, if you’ve never been near politics before, but think you have the energy and ideas and experience to turn Britain around. Come join.

I agree Britain is broken. In major decline. On the brink. In need of real change. And know neither Conservatives nor Labour will deliver it. Come join Reform.

It is ironic that the Tories sent this out to journalists just after Jenrick posed on X that it was time for the truth.

‘It’s time for the truth’ – Jenrick breaks post-sacking silence with brief message

Robert Jenrick has posted this on social media.

It’s time for the truth.

These are his first public comments since being sacked.

But that’s all so far.

Kemi Badenoch has told Sky News that she sacked Robert Jenrick, not just because he was going to defect, but because he was planning to “torch the Conservative party by putting out comments and allegations that would have been very, very bad”.

Asked if she thought Jenrick would have joined Reform UK by the end of the day, she said it was not her problem any more, but Nigel Farage’s problem.

Jenrick ‘expected to defect to Reform UK imminently’, report claims

But was Nigel Farage lying? Steven Swinford from the Times implies he was. He has just posted this on social media.

Robert Jenrick is expected to defect to Reform UK imminently, The Times has been told

Allies of Jenrick say they expect him to appear alongside Nigel Farage at a press conference in Westminster shortly

Farage is saying he has not decided but others are saying it is a done deal

Farage claims he has not decided yet if he will acccept Jenrick as defector

Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, has arrived at the venue for his press conferencee this afternoon. Asked on his way in if he was taking Robert Jenrick as a defector, he replied: “I haven’t decided.”

But, when asked if he could trust someone like Jenrick who betrayed a party leader, Farage replied with a question: “How many times did Churchill defect?”

Farage was referrinng to the fact that Winston Churchill started his career as a Conservative, defected to the Liberals where he served in cabinet under Asquith and Lloyd George, before he switched back to the Conservatives in the 1920s when he became chancellor.

Farage arriving for his press conference Photograph: Sky News

What commentators are saying about Badenoch sacking Jenrick

For Kemi Badenoch, the sacking of Robert Jenrick is generally seen as good news, at least today; she looks decisive; what 2024 showed was that the British public like sacking Tories, and she has just got rid of another one. But, once the drama dies down, she is still left with the fact that the defection crisis is continuing, with Jenrick becoming her first shadow cabinet member to decide he would be better off elsewhere.

For Nigel Farage, this is a pretty good day too. He has probably lost a surprise defection PR coup (there is speculation that Jenrick was planning to walk next week). But Farage has got most of the advantages of big Tory defection, without having negotiate with Jenrick over a job.

For Jenrick, it has been a disaster. He has been wrong-footed by Badenoch, possibly betrayed by a supporter, and he has lost what leverage he had with Farage over getting a Reform UK job.

And, for Labour it is a good day too. Labour needs the right to be split and the worst outcome for Starmer in 2026 would have been Jenrick replacing Badenoch, and then negotiating some sort of Reform-Tory pact before (as he proposed) before the election. At least that is now off the table.

Those are my takes. Here are some thoughts from other journalist and commentators.

Jenrick has a knack for polished social media videos but that’s about it. And his transformation from Tory centrist to supposed champion of the right in the run-up to the last election and the subsequent leadership contest was a bit too obviously careerist. That was one of the reasons Badenoch beat him when they stood against each other. She was clearly more authentic.

With his Tory ambitions so diminished, it seems he has seen more chance of advancement in Reform. Presented with what Badenoch calls ‘clear, irrefutable evidence’ that Jenrick was plotting to defect, the Tory leader was presented with a gift – a sacking that was both necessary, obvious and politically useful to her, further cementing her standing as leader.

As it happens, a few minutes after Nadhim Zahawi defected earlier this week I received a text from a very senior Reform member who predicted that, rather than defect, Jenrick would simply walk away from politics. ‘There is no appetite for him in Reform beyond a potential junior cabinet level position, which will not attract him.’ Let’s see…

Robert Peston, ITV’s political editor, says Tory MPs are glad to see Jenrick gone.

Jenrick was runner up in the Tory Party’s 2024 leadership election. He is arguably their most effective digital age campaigner. And yet the Conservative Party and its leader Kemi Badenoch are almost certainly stronger following his expulsion for allegedly plotting to defect to Reform.

Don’t take my word for it. I have spoken to Tory MPs today from all wings and factions in the party. And there was no hint of sadness or regret at his brutal removal.

While none of them have explicitly said “good riddance,” they believe that his presence as a constant rival to Badenoch was too painful a reminder of the party’s modern history of civil war.

And they are also convinced that Badenoch’s decisiveness in expelling him reinforces her growing reputation for decisiveness and shows a defter political touch than she manifested during her first months as leader.

Jenrick’s unequivocal sacking shows the relative strength of Badenoch’s leadership at the moment. Buoyed by improved polling, Conservative MPs were telling me just yesterday that they feel she has found her feet and is gaining momentum. Now her main rival is also discredited.

Stephen Bush at the Financial Times says this could work out well for Badenoch – but only if she recognises the need to junk not just Jenrick, but his very rightwing politics.

This is, by Badenoch’s own account, a “You’re not dumping me, I’m dumping you” type of sacking. That sort of thing never reflects well on the person saying it, but on this occasion it does rescue a bit of Conservative dignity by denying Farage a moment of Westminster theatre. The best time to remove Jenrick from the Conservative Party was in autumn last year. But the second-best time is now, and this week could yet represent the moment in which the Conservatives finally wised up to the nature of the threat they face from their rivals on the right.

Farage has never kept his desire to destroy the Tory party a secret. Yet too many Conservatives have a sentimental view of Reform as a long-lost family member, whose politicians should be talked about as sadly estranged children, rather than opponents who stand against or have equivocated on many of the Conservative Party’s proudest achievements, from free trade to Britain’s support for Ukraine …

Still, the exit of Jenrick from the Conservative family does pose a threat as well as an opportunity. Many of her parliamentary allies are not natural “Badenochites” but have been clinging to her leadership for fear that Jenrick was her inevitable successor. Without that fear, Badenoch will now have to prove that she has a plan for the Tory party to become something other than Reform’s caustic echo.

While Tories are publicly praising Kemi Badenoch’s “strong leadership” over Robert Jenrick’s defenestration, one backbencher told me she’s “ignited the civil war” & he doesn’t believe Jenrick was about to defect (as he’s likely to have won a leadership challenge in May)

This is Kwasi Kwarteng’s view too. (See 3.24pm.) But there is no clear evidence of that yet.

Reaction from some Tories on Badenoch sacking Jenrick:

Jerome Mayhew: “Kemi is a badass!”

Graham Stuart: “Loyalty counts, as does courage and decisiveness.”

Neil Shastri-Hurst: “It was no longer appropriate for him to remain in his position.”

Julian Smith: “100pc right”

What if Farage does not now accept Jenrick?

You can see why he wouldn’t. Zahawi went down v badly with Reform activists: yet another failed Tory, rejected by Kemi.

Risk for Reform is that it starts looking like a lifeboat for thwarted Conservatives, not a vehicle for change.

Sam Freedman, the Comment is Freed substacker, has been having the same thoughts too.

The best thing about this is Jenrick’s defection is now worth much less to Farage reducing his leverage. Very enjoyable.

Best outcome is Farage says no + Bobby J is forced to set up yet another “would you like some racism with that?” party causing further fragmentation on the right

Honestly, if this ends with Jenrick out of the Tories but not in Reform, I could see both Kemi Badenoch *and* Nigel Farage chalking that up as a win for themselves, if perhaps not their parties.

Funniest timeline now is that Jenrick and Farage can’t work out a deal, and Jenrick ends up having to do the full Powell and join the DUP.

And Luke Tryl, the More in Common pollster, argues that in some respects Badenoch is a victim of her own success.

The paradox of Badenoch’s personal bounce is it made her position more secure, that in turn made Jenrick’s leadership ambitions less likely, furthering the chance of a damaging defection that might well undo (or worse) any progress.

Badenoch risks ‘fatal weakening’ in her position by sacking Jenrick, former Tory chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng claims

Kwasi Kwarteng, who was chancellor when Liz Truss was PM, has written an article for GB News arguing that Kemi Badenoch may face a “fatal weakening” in her position as as result of sacking Robert Jenrick. He argues:

For Kemi … the sacking of Robert Jenrick could have much graver consequences.

The split on the right is real. Badenoch’s sacking of Jenrick could actually cause him to defect in reality. That would be a bombshell. It would also potentially be fatal for the Conservatives.

It would show the Tory party was split. Jenrick is no Nadhim Zahawi, a figure who left parliament and is no longer an MP.

Jenrick came second in the last Tory leadership contest. He is still in parliament. He is a current and active political figure in a way that Zahawi simply isn’t.

His defection would be Reform’s biggest scalp by far. Many Conservatives might consider their own position within the party, should Jenrick defects.

By trying to show strength and decisiveness, Kemi may unwittingly have caused a fatal weakening of her own position and the implosion of the Conservative party.

Kwarteng’s argument has some echoes of that made earlier by another former Tory chancellor (rather more long-serving), George Osborne. (See 1.31pm.)

YouGov has also re-published some Robert Jenrick polling figures. They show that he was only marginally more popular with Tory supporters (net support +6) than with Reform UK supporters (net support +3) when the poll was conducted in October.

Polling on Jenrick Photograph: YouGov

In April last year Ipsos conducted a poll asking people what impact on their view of Reform a Robert Jenrick defection would have. Overall, it was a net negative, but not by much. Keiran Pedley posted the figures on social media.

Polling on defections Photograph: Ipsos

Kemi Badenoch has emailed Conservative party members to explain her decision to sack Robert Jenrick, Aubrey Allegretti from the Times reports. She told them.

When I was elected leader I committed to doing politics differently. Disloyalty and dishonesty undermine trust in politics.

They are also disrespectful to our party members, our councillors, MPs and most of all voters. You all deserve better.

Hollinrake says there is no way back into Tory party following his sacking for disloyalty

In his Sky News interview, Kevin Hollinrake, the Tory chair, was asked if there was “no way back” for Robert Jenrick in the light of his disloyalty. Hollinrake agreed. He said the party was “very clear on that”.

Kevin Hollinrake, the Conservative party chair, has been interviewed on Sky News. Asked about the call from Jacob Rees-Mogg for the evidence against Robert Jenrick to be published (see 2.01pm), he said the evidence was “damning” and “irrefutable” – but he did not commit to publishing it.

This is from Jack Elsom, the Sun political editor, on the evidence (a draft resignation speech).