New shadow justice secretary apologises after Jenrick’s Reform defection<\/p>\n
Hello and welcome to the UK politics live blog with me, Tom Ambrose.<\/p>\n
This morning we start with follow-up and reaction to Robert Jenrick\u2019s dramatic sacking from the Tories and subsequent \u2013 if not depressingly unsurprising \u2013 defection to Nigel Farage\u2019s Reform UK party.<\/p>\n
The shadow justice secretary was Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch\u2019s leadership rival and had been the bookies favourite to replace her after she failed to make any sort of impact on the polls.<\/p>\n
Jenrick was sacked from the shadow cabinet and suspended from the Conservative party after Badenoch said she was presented with \u201cirrefutable evidence\u201d that he was planning to defect.<\/p>\n
And so he did just hours later, wheeled out as Farage\u2019s latest recruit to Reform, in what is fast becoming the political equivalent of Trigger\u2019s broom, stacked with the former Tories they say broke Britain.<\/p>\n
It comes as Nick Timothy said he was \u201csorry\u201d for how the Conservatives<\/a> \u201chandled certain things in those last few years\u201d in power.<\/p>\n The new shadow justice secretary told BBC Breakfast it was clear the country had been \u201clet down by some of the things that happened\u201d.<\/p>\n Asked whether he was sorry, Timothy said:<\/p>\n I\u2019ve said as a Conservative I\u2019m sorry for the way the party has handled certain things in those last few years and I\u2019ve been very open about that since I was elected for the first time 18 months ago.<\/p>\n The Conservative party will not move on and not persuade people to vote for us in the future in the numbers that we need unless we do look them in the eye and say we understand why we lost that election.<\/p>\n Timothy added that Jenrick was \u201ca friend of mine\u201d but that the public were sick of \u201cthe backbiting and the backstabbing\u201d in politics.<\/p>\n He said:<\/p>\n Yeah, Rob\u2019s been a friend of mine for some time. It\u2019s obviously disappointing that he\u2019s decided to move on, but the thing is, what we learned yesterday is the clear contrast between the Conservatives led by Kemi Badenoch and the other parties and what they offer Britain today.<\/p>\n The public are sick of the backbiting and the backstabbing and the lack of seriousness in our political parties when the challenges that the country faces are so serious, Kemi was given irrefutable evidence of what was about to happen, and she acted very decisively.<\/p>\n Badenoch, meanwhile, is expected to speak to the media later this morning. Stay tuned for that when it drops.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Key events<\/p>\n Show key events only<\/p>\n Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Pat McFadden has insisted he was \u201cnot worried\u201d after Nigel Farage<\/a> suggested there was about to be a Labour defection to Reform UK.<\/p>\n The work and pensions secretary told Times Radio:<\/p>\n I\u2019m not worried, and I don\u2019t know if that will happen but if it does, it\u2019s still a right-wing project. This is a project that parrots president Putin\u2019s line on foreign affairs, we\u2019ve seen that most recently over Ukraine.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a project that doesn\u2019t believe in the NHS. Nigel Farage himself has said that the model of the NHS is wrong. So whether it\u2019s on foreign affairs or domestic affairs, this is a right-wing project and we will stand firmly against it.<\/p>\n Asked how worried he was that the government is failing to get its message out amid the focus on Reform UK<\/a>, McFadden said:<\/p>\n I think when you\u2019re in government, you control what you can control and you keep to the job, and that is starting to pay off.<\/p>\n He pointed to GDP figures released on Thursday and a fall in NHS waiting lists, saying:<\/p>\n I know there\u2019s a lot more to do, and I know there\u2019s more change that people want, but whatever the drama of what\u2019s happening on the right of politics, those economic growth figures, those NHS waiting list figures, that\u2019s what will make the difference to people in their daily lives.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Nick Timothy has also said too many politicians \u201clack seriousness\u201d following the defection of his shadow cabinet predecessor Robert Jenrick<\/a> to Reform UK.<\/p>\n Speaking to GB News, the new shadow justice secretary said he did not recognise the characterisation of the Conservative party Jenrick gave during a speech at a press conference on Thursday.<\/p>\n Timothy said:<\/p>\n One of the things about yesterday that I think was really important was the contrast between Kemi\u2019s leadership as somebody who acted decisively and takes very seriously those challenges [which the country faces], and the sense of backbiting and backstabbing and the lack of seriousness that we see in too many politicians.<\/p>\n We saw it actually, to be fair, towards the end of our time in government before the 2024 general election.<\/p>\n We see it every day with this Labour government, constant speculation about the future of the prime minister, constant U-turns, constant clamouring by members of the Cabinet for the top job. And we see it in the Reform party as well.<\/p>\n But what Kemi showed was clarity of thought, strength of character and that\u2019s the kind of leadership that the country needs.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>New shadow justice secretary apologises after Jenrick’s Reform defection<\/p>\n Hello and welcome to the UK politics live blog with me, Tom Ambrose.<\/p>\n This morning we start with follow-up and reaction to Robert Jenrick\u2019s dramatic sacking from the Tories and subsequent \u2013 if not depressingly unsurprising \u2013 defection to Nigel Farage\u2019s Reform UK party.<\/p>\n The shadow justice secretary was Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch\u2019s leadership rival and had been the bookies favourite to replace her after she failed to make any sort of impact on the polls.<\/p>\n Jenrick was sacked from the shadow cabinet and suspended from the Conservative party after Badenoch said she was presented with \u201cirrefutable evidence\u201d that he was planning to defect.<\/p>\n And so he did just hours later, wheeled out as Farage\u2019s latest recruit to Reform, in what is fast becoming the political equivalent of Trigger\u2019s broom, stacked with the former Tories they say broke Britain.<\/p>\n