Great Britain Tories in crisis: party leader Badenoch dismisses rivals
An internal party dispute has plunged the British Conservatives into a serious crisis. Party leader and opposition leader Kemi Badenoch surprisingly threw her long-time rival Robert Jenrick out of the shadow cabinet and parliamentary group. She also suspended his party membership.
15.01.2026, 14:24
SDA
Jenrick, who lost to Badenoch in a run-off election for the party leadership in the fall of 2024, had planned to defect to another party "in the most damaging way possible", Badenoch said in a video message. There was "clear and irrefutable evidence" of this.
Did Jenrick want to defect to right-wing populists?
Badenoch did not say which party Jenrick allegedly wanted to defect to. However, it seems likely that he wanted to join the right-wing populist Reform UK party of Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage. Reform UK has been ahead of the Conservatives and the ruling Labour Party in the polls for several months.
Jenrick had positioned himself far to the right of his party and was seen as Badenoch's most promising successor if the party's poll ratings did not improve. According to reports, documents lying around are said to have revealed Jenrick's plans.
A Jenrick defection to Reform would have been a major blow to the party of legendary leaders Margaret Thatcher and Winston Churchill. Farage, who had announced a press conference for the afternoon, denied that Jenrick was to be presented as a new party member on that occasion. However, he admitted that he had held talks with Jenrick. He would call Jenrick and buy him a drink, Farage told journalists.
Only recently, former finance minister and Tory politician Nadhim Zahawi made a high-profile switch to Reform UK.
