Exclusive:
Tory MP Robert Jenrick, who lost to Kemi Badenoch in the Conservative leadership race, was vying to replace Rishi Sunak well before the election campaign was over
Robert Jenrick set up his leadership campaign website more than a month before the Tories lost the general election.
The shameless Tory MP, who lost to Kemi Badenoch in the Conservative leadership race, was vying to replace Rishi Sunak from June 1 last year – well before the election campaign was over. Labour has accused him of being more focused on his own interests than his party’s – or the public’s.
Keir Starmer’s party has also accused him of trying to run “a shadow leadership election at full tilt” to replace Ms Badenoch – despite serving in her Shadow Cabinet. Mr Jenrick’s leadership campaign website, joinjenrick.com, is still live despite it being two months after Ms Badenoch became Tory leader.
When users visit the page, they see a massive picture of Mr Jenrick next to a message to his fans reading: “I am standing to be your Conservative Party leader because we must acknowledge hard truths and deliver for our country once more.” The Newark MP’s personal Twitter/X account also still features his “Jenrick for Leader” slogan, which can be seen on numerous T-shirts and placards worn and waved by Tory activists.
Labour research also shows the now-Shadow Justice Secretary has been writing many newspaper opinion pieces often stretching well beyond his own brief. The party said Mr Jenrick has also made nine trips to Tory associations up and down the country since November 2, when the leadership race ended.
Mike Tapp, Labour MP for Dover and Deal, said: “Robert Jenrick is a man without principle who will do anything to curry favour with Tory Party members who rejected him last year and carry on with more endless Tory infighting that saw them booted out of office by the British people.
“Kemi Badenoch knows Jenrick’s a back-seat driver hell bent on dividing his Party and the country. While the Tories carry on fighting among themselves and with Reform, the Labour Government is putting in the hard yards to turn this country around and deliver on the Plan for Change.”
An ally of Mr Jenrick said: “This is silly nonsense.” They instead suggested in-fighting within Labour has become an issue, adding: “In Labour HQ Angela Rayner doesn’t think Keir Starmer can run a bath, the pitchforks are out for the Attorney General, and No10 are playing spin the bottle to decide which cabinet minister to brief against this week.”
