Tory leadership hopeful Robert Jenrick has spectacularly broken ranks with Kemi Badenoch as a leaked recording revealed he may push to join forces with Reform.
The Shadow Justice Secretary, who was runner up in the divided Conservatives’ most recent leadership contest, said he is “determined” to “bring this coalition together” before the next general election. The remarks reveal a deep split within the party leadership over how to deal with Nigel Farage, with Ms Badenoch emphatically ruling out a deal.
The Tory leader now faces pressure to sack Mr Jenrick. He told young Tories at the UCL Conservative assocation last month that he would try “one way or another” to make sure the two parties do not compete next time around. In a recording shared with Sky News, he said: “[Reform UK] continues to do well in the polls. And my worry is that they become a kind of permanent or semi-permanent fixture on the British political scene. And if that is the case, and I say, I am trying to do everything I can to stop that being the case, then life becomes a lot harder for us, because the right is not united.
“And then you head towards the general election, where the nightmare scenario is that Keir Starmer sails in through the middle as a result of the two parties being disunited. I don’t know about you, but I’m not prepared for that to happen.
“I want the fight to be united. And so, one way or another, I’m determined to do that and to bring this coalition together and make sure we unite as a nation as well.”
Ms Badenoch has repeatedly ruled out a deal with Mr Farage. In an interview with The Telegraph in March she mocked the rival party, saying: “Only five of them and they’ve already had a massive squabble and lost 20% of their MPs. If they can’t unite with five people, how are they going to unite the Right?”
Labour chairwoman Ellie Reeves said: “Kemi Badenoch needs to urgently come clean as to whether she backs her Shadow Justice Secretary in doing grubby deals with Reform behind the electorate’s back or if she will rule it out.
“If she disagrees with Robert Jenrick, how can her leadership have any credibility whilst he remains in her Shadow Cabinet? We know Kemi Badenoch has opened the door to deals with Reform at a local level, which Labour has categorically ruled out and now Robert Jenrick has let the cat out the bag.
“Between the Tories who decimated the NHS and Reform who want to make people pay for routine treatments, it’s a recipe for chaos and would be a disaster for Britain.”
Lib Dem deputy leader Daisy Cooper said: “The cat is out of the bag, senior Conservatives are plotting a grubby election deal with Nigel Farage. Kemi Badenoch should sack Robert Jenrick now if she’s serious about ruling out a pact with Reform. Anything less would show she’s either too weak to sack him or that she agrees.
“It’s little wonder that former Conservative voters, appalled by the party lurching further to the right, are switching to the Liberal Democrats in their droves.”
A source close to the Shadow Justice Secretary told Sky News that the comments were “about voters and not parties”. The insider added: “He’s clear we have to put Reform out of business and make the Conservatives the natural home for all those on the right, rebuilding the coalition of voters we had in 2019 and can have again.”
But they said Mr Jenrick is “under no illusions” about how difficult that will be. The split between the top Tories has been bubbling beneath the surface for months. Asked by The Sun whether the Tories and Reform could agree a pact ahead of the next general election, Mr Jenrick said: “Reform themselves are saying they don’t want to. Reform has said repeatedly they have no intention of doing this. Kemi has said she has no intention.”
But he declined to explicitly rule out such an agreement. A Labour spokesperson said: “The cat is out the bag: the Tories won’t rule out doing a dodgy backroom deal with Reform.
“The Conservatives wrecked public services and Nigel Farage plans to charge NHS patients thousands for routine treatments. Just imagine what they’d do together.”
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