Reform's vicious swipe at 'loser' Robert Jenrick after he hints at merger
One of Nigel Farage's key lieutenants has taken a brutal swipe at "loser" Robert Jenrick after he hinted at a Tory-Reform general election alliance.
Mr Jenrick was secretly recorded making the remarks to young Tories, prompting calls for Kemi Badenoch to sack him. The Shadow Justice Secretary, who was beaten in the most recent Conservative leadership race, said he is "determined" to "bring this coalition together".
In a bruising PMQs encounter, Ms Badenoch - who has ruled out a pact - was accused of losing control of her party after just six months. And Reform came swinging for Mr Jenrick, who was not present in the Commons today.
Former Strictly Come dancing star Ann Widdecombe, who defected from the Conservatives to join Nigel Farage's party, said she would "absolutely not" back a merger. She said: "I'm not teaming up with any losers. Reform is winning.
"Reform is at the top of the polls. We're fielding the most candidates in the local elections. We are winning. Why on earth would we want to join up with a bunch of people who squandered an 80-seat majority into an opposition landslide? I don't know. I certainly don't."
In a recording shared with Sky News, Mr Jenrick suggested he would back a merger ahead of the next general election. He said: "[Reform UK] continues to do well in the polls.
"And my worry is that they become a kind of permanent or semi-permanent fixture on the British political scene. And if that is the case, and I say, I am trying to do everything I can to stop that being the case, then life becomes a lot harder for us, because the right is not united.
"And then you head towards the general election, where the nightmare scenario is that Keir Starmer sails in through the middle as a result of the two parties being disunited. I don't know about you, but I'm not prepared for that to happen.
"I want the fight to be united. And so, one way or another, I'm determined to do that and to bring this coalition together and make sure we unite as a nation as well."
It prompted Keir Starmer to tell MPs in the Commons: "The mask has slipped just one week before the (local) elections, because the Shadow Justice Secretary - who is not here - the man who's doing everything he can to replace her, the man that most of them want as leader of their party - has admitted that Reform and the Tories are working together."
And he continued: "In six short months she's lost control of her party." A source close to the Shadow Justice Secretary told Sky News that the comments were "about voters and not parties". The insider added: "He's clear we have to put Reform out of business and make the Conservatives the natural home for all those on the right, rebuilding the coalition of voters we had in 2019 and can have again."
Labour chairwoman Ellie Reeves said: 'Kemi Badenoch needs to urgently come clean as to whether she backs her Shadow Justice Secretary in doing grubby deals with Reform behind the electorate's back or if she will rule it out.
'If she disagrees with Robert Jenrick, how can her leadership have any credibility whilst he remains in her Shadow Cabinet? We know Kemi Badenoch has opened the door to deals with Reform at a local level, which Labour has categorically ruled out and now Robert Jenrick has let the cat out the bag.
"Between the Tories who decimated the NHS and Reform who want to make people pay for routine treatments, it's a recipe for chaos and would be a disaster for Britain."
Lib Dem deputy leader Daisy Cooper said: 'The cat is out of the bag, senior Conservatives are plotting a grubby election deal with Nigel Farage. Kemi Badenoch should sack Robert Jenrick now if she's serious about ruling out a pact with Reform. Anything less would show she's either too weak to sack him or that she agrees.
"It's little wonder that former Conservative voters, appalled by the party lurching further to the right, are switching to the Liberal Democrats in their droves."
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