Robert Jenrick’s “mistimed” defection to Reform UK has been dismantled by Trevor Kavanagh, as he declared the former Tory has “made a mistake”.
Speaking to GB News, the Former Political Editor of The Sun told host Jacob Rees-Mogg that Mr Jenrick has chosen to defect at a time when Tory leader Kemi Badenoch is “beginning to gain traction”.
After being sacked by Tory leader Kemi Badenoch, Mr Jenrick was unveiled as the latest addition to Reform UK, welcomed by Nigel Farage earlier today.
Addressing the press conference, Mr Jenrick declared he no longer “trusts the Tories on immigration” and is “proud” to play a part in the growing success of Reform.
Analysing the timing of Mr Jenrick’s move, Mr Kavanagh told GB News: “I don’t think anyone has seen anything like this before, to be honest.
“I think that one of the problems for Reform is that it’s just received into its ranks two people who are so nakedly ambitious they might put people off politics altogether.
“Where is the integrity of a man who has been the archetypal shapeshifter, both physically and politically, for the whole of his political career?
“He was a Cameroon pro-European, anti-Brexit and defiantly so, until he suddenly changed his mind and saw that that wasn’t the direction that Tory voters were going.”
He added: “So he suddenly became a leaver, and that applies to just about everything that Robert Jenrick has stood for in the whole of his political career.
“And I do think, actually, that he may have mistimed the defection that he’s just carried out, because it’s come at the very moment that it seems to me, at any rate, that Kemi Badenoch is beginning to get traction in the opinion polls and in the views of her own party.
“She is beginning to do rather well in the House of Commons in Prime Minister’s Question Time, where she bests on almost every occasion the pathetic attempts of Keir Starmer to make jokes at her expense.
“And I think that people are beginning to look at Kemi Badenoch as someone they might actually turn to.”
Robert Jenrick’s ‘mistimed’ defection has been dismantled by Trevor Kavanagh
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GB NEWS / PA
Arguing that Mr Jenrick has “made a mistake”, he told GB News: “It remains to be seen, but I think that I think that Robert Jenrick may have made a mistake in his time. He should have gone sooner or he should have gone later.
“I don’t think Robert Jenrick was ever going to be the leader of the Conservative Party and I think people can see that this is a man who is so nakedly ambitious that he is prepared to adopt any principle for the time being.
“And one of the points I thought that Kemi made very succinctly was that he is no longer her problem, he’s Nigel Farage’s problem.”
Recalling Mr Farage’s previous criticism of Mr Jenrick, where he called the ex-Tory a “fraud”, Mr Kavanagh said: “And it’s worth remembering that only a few months ago, Nigel himself said that Robert Jenrick is a fraud. I’ve always said he was a fraud and I think that will come home to roost.”
Robert Jenrick has officially joined Reform as Nigel Farage unveiled his latest defection
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PAHighlighting the defection of ex-Tory Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi, Mr Kavanagh warned there is a “question mark over their integrity” in joining Reform.
He explained: “I think that opportunism is a natural thing with politics, to be absolutely honest.
“But I think with these two particular specimens of defectors, you have major question marks over the integrity of both men.
“And I think that their record in office doesn’t bear close scrutiny if you want someone who is consistent, believes in principles which they follow through through thick and thin, rather than leaping about and changing their position every time the opportunity arises.
“And I think that Robert Jenrick, perhaps more so than almost any other politician in modern politics.”
Mr Kavanagh told GB News that Mr Jenrick has ‘made a mistake’
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GB NEWS
Speaking to GB News Political Editor Christopher Hope, Mr Jenrick said of his defection: “I’ve joined this party as the 270,000th or something member, and I’m proud to do so.
“And to work not just with Nigel, but with a set of people I’ve come to know over a period of time, like my constituency neighbour Lee Anderson, who have built this party from nothing, and I’m just here to play my part, to lend my support and experience, to making it the greatest success that it possibly can be for the sake of the country.
“Yes, it’s a sad day for me to leave a party that I’ve been a part of for so long. It’s sad also because I know there are very good people within the Conservative Party.
“And so my message to them is Reform is here for anyone who shares this conviction that the country needs to be fixed and turned around, and we can’t let party loyalty get in the way of fixing our country. That’s what really matters.”