Robert Jenrick, the former Tory justice secretary, has joined Reform UK, hours after he was sacked by Kemi Badenoch for “plotting in secret to defect”.
Party leader Nigel Farage said at a press conference in central London that it was a “big day in the realignment of the genuine centre-right of this country”.
He told reporters: “I think Rob coming will bring a lot more people and voters to us. I think this is actually a very big moment, and that’s why we talked about it for a long time.”
Ex-Tory Mr Jenrick “will be joining our front line team”, the Reform UK leader said. Mr Jenrick had attracted speculation about leadership ambitions since being beaten in his bid for the party’s reins in 2024, and has repeatedly stepped out beyond the shadow cabinet line.
Mrs Badenoch said on X: “I have sacked Robert Jenrick from the shadow cabinet, removed the whip and suspended his party membership with immediate effect.
“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.”
Speaking to the press, Robert Jenrick said the Tories are “not sorry” about mistakes they made in government.
The former Conservative shadow justice secretary told his defection press conference: “After the last general election, I made an argument to the Conservative Party, and in some respects, haven’t stopped making that argument that it failed the country, that it needed to be painfully honest about the mistakes that it had made, to really show to the public that it was sincere in that, and then to set out the serious answers to the big challenges that face our country right now.
He added: “It does not take me one blink of an eyelid to say to you that I want Nigel to be our prime minister after the next general election.”
Mr Jenrick joins the likes of Nadhim Zahawi, Lee Anderson, Nadine Dorries and Danny Kruger as former Conservatives who have all switched to join the party in the past two years.
Here are the other Conservatives who defected to Reform UK:
Lee Anderson
Mr Anderson was elected in 2019 as an MP for Ashfield for the Conservative Party; he defected to Reform UK in March 2024 and has since become Chief Whip. He retained his seat as a Reform UK MP in the 2024 general election.
Jonathan Gullis
In December last year, Mr Gullis announced he had defected to Reform UK – over a year after he confessed he’d been unable to find permanent employment since losing his seat as Tory MP for Stoke-on-Trent North in the 2024 general election. He was a Tory MP from 2019 to 2024 and briefly had a stint as party deputy chairman from March 2024.
Nadine Dorries
After 25 years as a Conservative Party member, Ms Dorries announced she was leaving for Reform UK in September last year. The former politician was MP for Mid Bedfordshire from 2005 to 2023 and served as Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport from 2021 to 2022 under Boris Johnson.
David Jones
Last summer, the former cabinet minister and MP for Clwyd West defected to Farage’s party after over 50 years as a member of the Conservative Party. He represented the Clwyd West constituency from 2005 until 2024. In his parting statement, Mr Jones said: “Today, Reform UK is the party that best represents my views – and, I believe, those of many others who have become disillusioned with the two old major parties.”
Dame Andrea Jenkyns
After a career as Conservative MP for Morely and Outwood from 2015 to May 2024, Dame Andrew left the party for Reform UK in November that same year. She later announced her candidacy for Reform in the 2025 election for the newly created position of Mayor of Greater Lincolnshire last year and joined the party’s decision-making board.
Danny Kruger
Mr Kruger, MP for East Wiltshire, previously Devizes, since 2019, was one of the more high-profile defectors to Reform UK in September last year. He told a press conference: “This is my tragic conclusion, the Conservative Party is over, over as a national party, over as the principal opposition to the left.”
Lucy Allan
Former MP for Telford from 2015 to 2024, Ms Allan stood down in the last general election and was suspended from the Conservative Party for publicly supporting the Reform UK candidate for that same constituency she formerly represented.
Sir Jake Berry
After serving as MP for Rossendale and Darwen from 2010 to 2024, Sir Jake defected to Reform last July. As a Tory MP, he was Chairman of the Conservative Party briefly in 2022 and served as minister of state for the Northern Powerhouse and local growth from 2017 to 2020 under both Theresa May and Boris Johnson.
Anne Marie Morris
Last year, Ms Morris joined Reform UK to head up their social care policy. Prior to this, she was the Conservative MP for Newton Abbot from 2010 to 2024. During her 14-year term in office, she twice lost the party whip for a period of nine months between July and December 2017, and then again between January and May 2022.
Marco Longhi
In January last year, Mr Longhi defected from the Conservative Party to Reform UK and is now president of Turning Point UK. The former Conservative MP for Dudley North had been a member of the Conservative Party since 1999.
Ross Thomson
Formerly MP for Aberdeen South between 2017 to 2019, Mr Thomson was a key supporter of Boris Johnson. In June last year, he announced he had defected to Reform UK, saying “only Reform have the courage and answers to the issues facing Scotland and the United Kingdom”.
Chris Green
Mr Green is one of the latest Conservatives to defect to Reform UK in December last year after he served as MP for Bolton West from 2015 until 2024.
Lia Nici
Ms Nici defected from the Tories to Reform in December after a career as MP for Great Grimsby between 2019 and 2024. She served as assistant government whip for Liz Truss in her brief stint as prime minister in 2022.
Ben Bradley
The former Mansfield MP and Nottingham County Council leader announced his defection to Reform in December, stating that trust in the Tories “has gone” and “is not coming back”. He has been appointed Reform’s head of local government action, and will focus on reducing council spending.
Nadhim Zahawi
The former Tory chancellor became the highest-profile politician yet to switch to Reform from the Conservatives at the start of January. Mr Zahawi, who served ministerial positions under Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, said Britain “really does need Nigel Farage as prime minister”. It was, however, said by some Tory sources that Mr Zahawi jumped ship after a request for a peerage was rejected by Ms Badenoch – a claim he dismissed.
Robert Jenrick
Mr Jenrick, who was sacked from the role of shadow justice secretary on Thursday, said of his defection: “If we don’t get the next Government right, Britain will likely slip beyond the point of repair”.
He added: “I can’t in good conscience stick with a party that’s failed so badly, that isn’t sorry and hasn’t changed, that I know in my heart won’t – can’t – deliver what’s needed.
“That’s why I resolved to leave. Because Nigel Farage has stood consistently, and often alone for what’s needed.”
