{"id":374852,"date":"2026-01-17T08:12:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T08:12:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/374852\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T08:12:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T08:12:07","slug":"i-have-lost-a-friend-tories-in-jenricks-constituency-shocked-by-defection-to-reform-robert-jenrick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/374852\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I have lost a friend\u2019: Tories in Jenrick\u2019s constituency shocked by defection to Reform | Robert Jenrick"},"content":{"rendered":"

For Sam Smith, Thursday began as an ordinary day. The Conservative councillor was preparing for a budget scrutiny meeting at the Reform-led Nottinghamshire<\/a> county council hall, where he is leader of the opposition, when he received a message from long-time friend Robert Jenrick.<\/p>\n

The MP\u2019s message to the Newark Conservative Association\u2019s group chat queried what local pubs they could visit to oppose Labour\u2019s hike on business rates.<\/p>\n

It was not unusual for Smith to hear from the MP. The pair have been friends for more than half a decade and the councillor said he spearheaded Jenrick\u2019s re-election campaign in 2024, successfully helping him face off a Tory wipeout. \u201cWe text each other every week and speak on the phone and meet up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Less than three hours later, during the council\u2019s scrutiny meeting, Smith was alerted to the shock announcement from Kemi Badenoch that Jenrick had been sacked from the shadow frontbench and the Conservative party.<\/p>\n

\u201cIrrefutable evidence\u201d had emerged that the MP was planning to defect, Badenoch said. Smith, who had to make an abrupt exit from the council meeting, said the announcement left everyone in a \u201cstate of shock\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t believe what I was reading. You go through a emotional rollercoaster,\u201d he said. \u201cThen [the] personal: \u2018Why haven\u2019t you told me? I\u2019m your friend.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody expected it because we\u2019ve been working so closely. We are a close team here in Newark, we support each other at all levels of government,\u201d he said. \u201cI tried to tell the team: \u2018Look, let\u2019s just wait to hear both sides of the story.\u2019 Then it went quiet and as the day developed, it became clear.\u201d<\/p>\n

For hours, there was radio silence from Jenrick and his team. Smith said he attempted to contact the MP during this time but received no response.<\/p>\n

Instead, he watched events unfold through the media and saw his friend emerge as Reform UK\u2019s latest and most high-profile Conservative recruit<\/a>. At the press conference, Jenrick launched a blistering attack on consecutive Conservative governments and declared: \u201cBritain is broken. Britain needs Reform.\u201d<\/p>\n

The MP also said that he had been in talks with Reform since September.<\/p>\n

This was an even harder pill to swallow for Smith. \u201cI reflected on how many times we\u2019d interacted as friends since September, which is many times in the pubs and on the streets,\u201d he said. \u201cHow many times we\u2019ve interacted professionally, whether that\u2019s helping with case work or council stuff, and to not say that and to not talk to me about it, it\u2019s quite sad.\u201d<\/p>\n

Newark, a rural market town, has been Conservative since 1979, barring a four-year gap from 1997-2001. Photograph: Christopher Thomond\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

It was just before midnight on Thursday that Smith was finally able to speak to his friend.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was angry at the fact that he didn\u2019t tell me as a friend, as his campaign manager,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I took comfort in the fact that he rang me and said [he] did plan to tell me before \u2026 [he] did not plan to defect to Reform yesterday.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked whether he views Jenrick\u2019s decision as a betrayal, Smith said an emphatic yes.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbsolutely. I see it as a betrayal to the voters of Newark, who voted for conservative policies and values. I see it as a betrayal to his friends who have helped him get re-elected,\u201d he said. \u201cI do think it\u2019s interesting what people do when they see the polls and how quickly their principles change.\u201d<\/p>\n

For those voters in Newark, however, the reaction has been mixed. Newark is a rural market town that has been Tory dominated since 1979, apart from one term between 1997 and 2001, during which it was represented by Labour. Jenrick\u2019s majority took a hit in 2024 to just over 3,500 \u2013 with the Reform candidate taking 15% of the vote.<\/p>\n

Andrew Hind, who is 68 and owns a butcher shop, said he voted for Jenrick and was not surprised by the defection. He said he would still vote for him under the Reform banner at the next general election.<\/p>\n

Tricia Gallop defended Jenrick\u2019s record as an MP. Photograph: Christopher Thomond\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

Tricia Gallop, 75, echoed Hind\u2019s views and said Jenrick has been a good MP. \u201cHe\u2019s been attending things for the elderly, he was at the coffee meeting we went to. We\u2019ve seen him,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Others were more critical. Local charity worker Catherine said Jenrick is \u201cnot interested\u201d in the local area and criticised the MP for failing to campaign to save Newarks\u2019s world-renowned courses in making stringed instruments.<\/a><\/p>\n

She said: \u201cHe\u2019s barely ever here. He jumps on bandwagons. He\u2019s all out for himself. That\u2019s the only reason he\u2019s a politician. And Newark needs somebody that serves [them well]. He doesn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stephen Charnock, the chair of trustees at a food bank in Newark, said the defection was inevitable.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want somebody who recognises what the areas of concern are within the area,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t really care what party anybody actually belongs to, as long as \u2026 they\u2019re actually providing the service that I should be getting in an MP.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith said the defection has only strengthened the resolve of Conservative activists in the area, who are determined to battle Jenrick for the seat in the next general election.<\/p>\n

Asked whether he still considers Jenrick as a friend, Smith was more hesitant.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope so,\u201d he said. \u201cIf he didn\u2019t defect yesterday \u2026 I would defend him to the hilt. I\u2019m not going to sit here today and say I don\u2019t respect him because I do.\u201d<\/p>\n

But, he added: \u201cI have a lost a friend.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For Sam Smith, Thursday began as an ordinary day. The Conservative councillor was preparing for a budget scrutiny…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":374853,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-374852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=374852"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374852\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/374853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=374852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=374852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=374852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}