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Reuters

Britain’s former ‍Conservative Party leadership candidate Robert Jenrick became the biggest-name defector to Nigel Farage’s right-wing Reform UK on Thursday, saying the nation was broken and its two mainstream political parties rotten.
Sacked by the Conservatives when his potential switch was leaked, Jenrick appeared alongside Farage at a press conference, the latest of 21 current ⁠or former Conservative lawmakers to join Reform.
Farage’s anti-immigration party was ahead of both Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour and Kemi Badenoch’s Conservatives in polls before an election due in 2029 that could end the two-party system dominating for more than a century.
“The two main parties are rotten,” Jenrick, 44, said.

“They are no longer fit for purpose. They both broke Britain, and neither can fix it.”
Jenrick, who ‍served in a number of senior government roles including immigration minister, was the second sitting Conservative lawmaker to switch to Reform, giving ‍it six seats in Parliament.
Badenoch had earlier announced Jenrick’s sacking from her policy team and suspension from the party after she received evidence showing he was planning to defect.
He lost to her in the ‌2024 contest to lead the main opposition party after their crushing national election defeat and was then, in an effort to reunite the ‍Conservatives, given the role of justice spokesperson.
The former centrist, who is a qualified lawyer, used that position to build a personal profile on issues like immigration and crime that many saw as a platform for a future challenge to Badenoch’s leadership.
Jenrick’s ousting comes days after former Conservative finance minister Nadhim Zahawi announced he had joined Reform.

Zahawi, who is no longer an MP, was the latest of about 20 ex-Conservative lawmakers to have switched to Reform in recent years.
Reform’s popularity has come despite criticism from opponents that it ‌lacks fleshed-out ⁠plans for power and has focused mainly on criticising others. In a bid to professionalise, the party has jettisoned members accused of racism and bullying and distanced itself from far-right movements in other European nations.
Farage said Badenoch’s decision to kick Jenrick out of the Conservatives had accelerated talks about him joining Reform, which Jenrick said had begun in September last year.
“I just want to say ‌thank you to Kemi Badenoch,” Farage said. “You’ve handed me on a plate the man that is by far the most popular figure (in the Conservative Party).”
The Conservatives are Britain’s oldest and most successful political party, governing for 32 of the ‌last 46 years.
But their reputation ‌has been badly damaged by a 14-year spell in power that included the hugely divisive Brexit referendum, several chaotic leadership changes and market crises, ending in the party’s worst electoral defeat.
Jenrick said he had not always agreed with Farage but described Britain as “on the brink” with welfare, immigration and net zero energy policy among the biggest problems.
Starmer’s press secretary dismissed Jenrick as a “failed” Tory that voters had rejected when they voted out the last Conservative government in July 2024.
Badenoch’s party was a “sinking ship”, the press secretary added.
Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse


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Robert Jenrick joins Nigel Farage’s Reform party as the Conservatives descend into civil war


Robert Jenrick joins Nigel Farage’s Reform party as the Conservatives descend into civil war.


Britain’s surging Reform UK party draws big-name Tory defector

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Robert Jenrick joins Nigel Farage’s Reform party as the Conservatives descend into civil war

Robert Jenrick joins Nigel Farage’s Reform party as the Conservatives descend into civil war