A massive mess for the Tories – but possibly preferable to the alternativepublished at 11:52 GMT
11:52 GMT
Henry Zeffman
Chief political correspondent
Conservative MPs are reeling at this development. One MP just told me there is an eerie quiet in the party’s WhatsApp groups.
Many MPs will already have left Parliament, and London, for the weekend.
One MP I’ve just spoken to, who was generally aligned with Robert Jenrick, was adamant that Jenrick had merely been keeping his options open when it came to Reform.
They said his preferred option was to wait for the elections in May, and then see if there was a possibility of him becoming Conservative leader first.
We will have to see what evidence Kemi Badenoch has, and what Jenrick says, to assess whether that MP is simply being naïve.
A senior Conservative MP said to me in the immediate aftermath of Badenoch’s announcement that this was “a massive mess” for their party.
That feels inarguable.
But it will take time to work out whether Badenoch triggering this mess was preferable to the alternative.