Kemi Badenoch has issued a scathing takedown of Robert Jenrick, slamming her ex-Shadow Justice Secretary for “rewriting history” while the Tory-Reform war rumbles on.
Joining GB News to fire back at her former junior colleague, Mrs Badenoch demanded an end to the “Tory psychodrama”, echoing the very words she reeled off after she sacked Mr Jenrick on Thursday morning.
The Newark MP was not left long without a party, with Reform UK leader Nigel Farage welcoming the former Immigration Minister to his ranks within just a few hours.
Now, former leadership rivals Mrs Badenoch and Mr Jenrick have been locked in a war of words with one another since Mr Jenrick joined Reform UK as their sixth MP.
Today, Mrs Badenoch told GB News: “I am gobsmacked that someone could stand up and say I want to lead this party when we heard day before yesterday what he actually thought of the party, basically saying ‘make me your leader’.
“‘I don’t like any of you and I hope you’re all destroyed, but put me in charge’.
“That’s basically what he was confessing to on Thursday.
“And that’s why I think Conservative Party members saw through that act and made sure that I won the leadership.”
The former colleagues have been locked in a war of words with one another since Mr Jenrick joined Reform UK
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In November 2024, when the leadership contest came to a conclusion, Mrs Badenoch scooped up 56.5 per cent of the membership vote, while Mr Jenrick took home 43.5 per cent.
Mrs Badenoch blasted the “relentless” attacks he had planned to launch on colleagues while “pretending he had nothing to do with the mistakes of the previous Government when he was in Cabinet longer than some of those he’s criticising”.
She added: “It’s actually quite shocking. He is trying to rewrite history, and the whole country has seen that this is a man who says whatever it is that he wants to say to get votes, and that’s why he’s gone to Reform.
“That’s where he belongs. And what I want to do is actually stop talking about this psychodrama and start talking about what we’re going to do to fix the country.”
THE TORY-REFORM WAR – READ MORE:
Mr Jenrick said Britain was broken as he hopped over to join Reform UK
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PA
Raving about her party’s newfound unity with Mr Jenrick gone, she added: “We are a more united and closer team without him, so he’s not my problem anymore. He’s Nigel’s problem now.
“And good luck to both of them. But right now, what I want to talk about is how we are going to fix the country. Reform does not have the experience.
“They don’t even have the answers or the solutions. Taking people who are sacked from Government or who resigned because they couldn’t do the job from Government.
“That’s not how you get Government experience. It’s actually quite laughable.”
Mrs Badenoch made the decisive call to sack the popular conservative amid rumours Mr Jenrick was scheming to leap into bed with Reform UK and “planning to do so in the most damaging way possible” to the Conservative Party.
The latest Reform recruit has insisted his defection to Mr Farage’s party was “uniting the right”, laying down any remaining allegiance to the party of which he had been a member since 16.
He told GB News: “I’ve tried to be honest, more honest than anyone else about the Tory party’s failures. And I’ve concluded the Tory party it can’t face up to its past, let alone set out the future.
“Kemi Badenoch, she can’t handle the truth. She can’t handle the truth. I am being honest with the British public about what the Tory party did and the fact that it will never be able to change.”
Mr Jenrick added: “She’s not going to be the next Prime Minister. And I don’t mean that with any disrespect to her, but Kemi has as much chance of being our next Prime Minister as Zack Polanski. It’s not going to happen.”