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Kemi Badnock Drinking cocktails at the Johnnie Walker Experience store in Edinburgh on Thursday afternoon. Allow yourself to enjoy a rare victory After a turbulent start to her leadership conservative party.
she finally broke free from being a member of the tory party Robert Jenrick She defeated MPs in a leadership race in late 2024, but she remains Still her biggest rival for the top job.
Her shadow attorney general continues to break ranks to advance his own agenda, refuses to toe the party line and has done nothing to quell persistent speculation that he is preparing to challenge her leadership again.
After banishing Jenrick in a tweet, smartly chose to talk to Nigel FarageThe Conservative leader appeared to have finally wrested back control of her party as she unveiled her reform leader in Scotland, fueling speculation about her own future.
She seized the initiative and forced him Confirming his defection in an awkward and rushed press conference and Farage.
But just when the state of emergency the party has been plunged into over the past 24 hours looked set to be over, Farage set an effective deadline of May 7 for more defectors to join.
The Conservatives have a defection watch list of many MPs and peers – most of which are made up of critics. Kemi Badnockof the leadership or previous supporters of Jenrick’s leadership bid – the party is now bracing for a potential wave of departures.
One senior Conservative admits: ‘By May 7, the race may be over’ The Independent.
But there are real divisions within Badenock’s senior team and the wider party over how to deal with defectors.
this Appoints Lord Malcolm Orford as reform leader Yesterday in Scotland – completely overshadowed by the Jenrick news – was a case in point.
Badenock’s husband Hamish took his defection late last year very seriously and, although Hamish was not at all public in his thoughts, he was his wife’s main supporter behind the scenes.
The peer and former finance minister is a friend of Hamish, works with him on fund-raising and is a regular visitor to Hamish’s house.
Some of Badennock’s allies called for a slash-and-burn strategy against Orford against other defectors – such as former chairman Sir Jack Berry and MP Danny Kruger – but the advice was that “no one knows who this guy is”.
Nonetheless, sources said Offord left because he was “pained” after being overlooked for promotion to Lords leader.
“We have a lot of people who, when they don’t get what they want, throw the toys out of the pram and run for reform,” one source noted. Lord Orford denied the accusation, calling it “completely ridiculous”.
Nadhim Zahawi was reportedly rejected by the Conservative Party for a peerage nomination before his appointment. Revealed as newest member of Reform This week is another example.
But some argue the party needs to take a more nuanced approach.
“We need to treat these people on a case-by-case basis. People like Zahavi, we should be saying ‘Well damn off, you’re welcome to him, Nigel!’ Others we should be leaving a way out for others,” said a senior Conservative source.
Despite Badenock’s insistence on Friday that there would be no further defections from senior Tories, it was clear CCHQ and the leader’s senior team knew Jenrick would not be the last Tory to defect to the Reform faction. They just didn’t know who would follow him or when.
A senior source admitted: “All we can do is keep working hard to make Kemi better and more relaxed, the polls improve and hope that this will stop defections.”
Meanwhile, the Reform Party is stepping up efforts to woo the wavering Conservatives, with senior figures winning and MPs thought to be considering joining Farage’s party.
independent A senior Conservative MP told them they had been out to dinner in recent weeks with Reform Party deputy leader Richard Tice, who had tried to persuade them to come over. The MP, a close ally of Jenrick, resisted the temptation because “the Conservative Party is my home”.
But some MPs and prominent former MPs also admitted they had received calls from reform groups asking if they were interested.
Conservative insiders hope that, unlike Lord Orford, the brutal manner in which Jenrick was sacked will make potential defectors think twice.
But there is some internal controversy over the tactics adopted by the party.
Just hours after Chief Whip Rebecca Harris called Jenrick to tell him his fate, a Conservative MP said he had challenged her to protest that his punishment was too harsh. As well as being sacked as shadow justice secretary and losing his parliamentary whip, he was suspended from the party he joined as a 16-year-old.
But the Conservative leadership has fiercely defended the move, saying those planning to defect have shown no loyalty to the party – no matter how young they were when they joined.
Some people close to Badenock were outraged not only by his defection but also by his plot to undermine the Conservative Party while he was away.
People who know her say that despite her reputation with the public, she is extremely cautious and circumspect in her decision-making. “She’s not one to make hasty decisions,” a source said.
“That said, it didn’t take long,” they added.
It was quickly agreed that there was only one thing that could be done – expel Jenrick from the Conservative Party. Quick, open and brutal.
His now former colleagues are delighted with the impact of their move – acutely aware that Farage has booked a press conference on Thursday afternoon, ostensibly about the local elections – but are also aware that they may not get such an opportunity again.
The decision to release a video of Badenock’s shock announcement of Jenrick’s sacking came at the same time Farage was giving another press conference in Scotland, with Lord Orford barely noticed in the ensuing chaos.
Party insiders were outraged that the speech they discovered was part of evidence of defections that included attacks on shadow chancellor Mel Stride and shadow home secretary Priti Patel. No other shadow cabinet minister is thought to have been specifically targeted, but it was shocking that the person he sat with in shadow cabinet the previous day had been physically attacked.
The speech also included the Kemi Badnock.
One person involved in the plot to oust Jenrick said: “Then why did you leave? There’s only one answer and that’s your personal ambition. So Rob knew that clearly after he failed in the leadership bid. He couldn’t deal with it on his own.”
Even those who consider themselves friends of Jenrick agree. Alarm bells were set off over Christmas when it was discovered he had not been in contact with at least one Conservative MP with whom he regularly spoke. Conservatives are now looking for similar warning signs among some of their colleagues.
Ultimately, Robert Jenrick belatedly became the Reform Party’s latest star attraction after getting lost on the stairs of Milbank House in Westminster.
The neighborhood became the headquarters Reform Britain Last year tried to win the keys to Downing Street. But more famously, Tony Blair used it as the centerpiece of his 1997 election campaign, to great success.
Jenrick hid downstairs from the assembled media. But he and his team didn’t bargain with the tower’s confusing staircase.
While Farage joked on stage that his new recruits might have fled, that task was left to the party’s treasurer, Nick Candy, a billionaire married to his previous husband.Neighbor Star Holly Valance assured him he’d still be back.
Jenrick eventually found his way to Farage. It seems unlikely that he will be the last disaffected Tory to do so.