How Robert Jenrick skewered Kemi Badenoch's reboot
Kate Devlin,
The Independent
Robert Jenrick's attention-grabbing videos have angered other senior Tories as the party desperately tries to raise the profile of their beleaguered leader, Kemi Badenoch. The shadow justice secretary hit the headlines last week thanks to a stunt that saw him chase down and challenge fare dodgers on London trains. The clip, which follows others on a range of issues including bin collections in Birmingham and the government's deal to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, was watched more than 10 million times. But the move overshadowed Ms Badenoch's own video meeting grooming gang victims, and is far from the first time Jenrick has garnered publicity apparently at the expense of his party leader.
A recent mishap, where hundreds of Westminster insiders were added to a WhatsApp group publicising his London marathon run, led to Badenoch being asked if Jenrick, who ran against her for the leadership of the party, posed a fresh threat to her. She laughed it off. But party insiders have told The Independent his interventions are leading to tensions with other members of the shadow cabinet. It comes as the Tories try to raise the profile of Badenoch, as even some of her closest political allies — including shadow chancellor Mel Stride — admit she needs to improve her performance. This week's tracker poll by Techne UK puts the Tories on just 17 per cent (up one per cent) — a full 14 points behind Reform on 31 per cent, with Labour also struggling on 23 per cent. The polling showed that well over a third, 37 per cent, of 2024 general election Tory voters have now deserted them for Reform.
Recent focus groups, held by the pollsters More in Common (MIC), suggest one of the problems is that very few people know who Badenoch is. When groups of former Tory voters are shown clips of the Conservative leader speaking, they like her, but for most of them, it is the first time they have seen her, MIC found. In a bid to bolster her position, insiders plan to lean into Ms Badenoch's forthright personality, in what has been dubbed the 'Let Kemi be Kemi' strategy - a nod to the famous West Wing 'Let Bartlet Be Bartlet' quote. And, like Jenrick, there is a hope that her clips will go viral. There was surprise when a video of Ms Badenoch telling two incredulous BBC Breakfast hosts that she had not watched the Netflix hit Adolescence took off online. At one point, Badenoch told them she already understood the issues highlighted by the programme, adding 'I don't need to watch Casualty to know about the NHS'.
Her supporters want her to double down on what is seen as her 'authenticity', at a time when voters appear to be turning away from career politicians to support people such as Donald Trump and the Reform leader Nigel Farage. In the background, there is also frustration about the amount of airtime Badenoch gets on the main broadcasters. The issue is one all opposition leaders struggle with, as the government is inevitably seen as more newsworthy. But it is seen particularly difficult at the moment, at a time of huge international news, with President Trump in the White House, war raging on the edge of Europe in Ukraine and the ongoing bombardment of Gaza.
Insiders claim Badenoch is relaxed about Jenrick straying into briefs that are not his own, especially given huge demands on the time of the leader of the opposition. However, sources say there have been tensions with other members of her shadow cabinet. One senior figure told The Independent: 'Some have been very annoyed... That has caused tensions. Kemi has a challenge managing the competition in her team.'
Another insider said: "There's no discipline. Basically, shadow cabinet members can do what they want with no central grid. It's causing complete chaos.' A supporter of Jenrick accused some frontbenchers of being 'jealous' that he was able to make headlines.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Gulf Today
10 hours ago
- Gulf Today
How Robert Jenrick skewered Kemi Badenoch's reboot
Kate Devlin, The Independent Robert Jenrick's attention-grabbing videos have angered other senior Tories as the party desperately tries to raise the profile of their beleaguered leader, Kemi Badenoch. The shadow justice secretary hit the headlines last week thanks to a stunt that saw him chase down and challenge fare dodgers on London trains. The clip, which follows others on a range of issues including bin collections in Birmingham and the government's deal to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, was watched more than 10 million times. But the move overshadowed Ms Badenoch's own video meeting grooming gang victims, and is far from the first time Jenrick has garnered publicity apparently at the expense of his party leader. A recent mishap, where hundreds of Westminster insiders were added to a WhatsApp group publicising his London marathon run, led to Badenoch being asked if Jenrick, who ran against her for the leadership of the party, posed a fresh threat to her. She laughed it off. But party insiders have told The Independent his interventions are leading to tensions with other members of the shadow cabinet. It comes as the Tories try to raise the profile of Badenoch, as even some of her closest political allies — including shadow chancellor Mel Stride — admit she needs to improve her performance. This week's tracker poll by Techne UK puts the Tories on just 17 per cent (up one per cent) — a full 14 points behind Reform on 31 per cent, with Labour also struggling on 23 per cent. The polling showed that well over a third, 37 per cent, of 2024 general election Tory voters have now deserted them for Reform. Recent focus groups, held by the pollsters More in Common (MIC), suggest one of the problems is that very few people know who Badenoch is. When groups of former Tory voters are shown clips of the Conservative leader speaking, they like her, but for most of them, it is the first time they have seen her, MIC found. In a bid to bolster her position, insiders plan to lean into Ms Badenoch's forthright personality, in what has been dubbed the 'Let Kemi be Kemi' strategy - a nod to the famous West Wing 'Let Bartlet Be Bartlet' quote. And, like Jenrick, there is a hope that her clips will go viral. There was surprise when a video of Ms Badenoch telling two incredulous BBC Breakfast hosts that she had not watched the Netflix hit Adolescence took off online. At one point, Badenoch told them she already understood the issues highlighted by the programme, adding 'I don't need to watch Casualty to know about the NHS'. Her supporters want her to double down on what is seen as her 'authenticity', at a time when voters appear to be turning away from career politicians to support people such as Donald Trump and the Reform leader Nigel Farage. In the background, there is also frustration about the amount of airtime Badenoch gets on the main broadcasters. The issue is one all opposition leaders struggle with, as the government is inevitably seen as more newsworthy. But it is seen particularly difficult at the moment, at a time of huge international news, with President Trump in the White House, war raging on the edge of Europe in Ukraine and the ongoing bombardment of Gaza. Insiders claim Badenoch is relaxed about Jenrick straying into briefs that are not his own, especially given huge demands on the time of the leader of the opposition. However, sources say there have been tensions with other members of her shadow cabinet. One senior figure told The Independent: 'Some have been very annoyed... That has caused tensions. Kemi has a challenge managing the competition in her team.' Another insider said: "There's no discipline. Basically, shadow cabinet members can do what they want with no central grid. It's causing complete chaos.' A supporter of Jenrick accused some frontbenchers of being 'jealous' that he was able to make headlines.
Gulf Today
10 hours ago
- Gulf Today
How badly could Donald Trump hurt Elon Musk?
Io Dodds, The Independent Even for Elon Musk, this is — to use the precise technical term — bonkers. Barely one week after leaving the Trump administration with every semblance of amity, the world's richest person is going scorched earth against the leader of the world's richest nation. Insults and threats. Calls for impeachment. Sinister references to Jeffrey Epstein. Somehow, Kanye West is also involved. It's like the messiest online influencer drama you've ever seen, except the parties are two of the most powerful people on Earth. But when it comes down to brass tacks, what exactly does Musk stand to lose in this titanic celebrity divorce? If Trump were to follow through on all his threats, and use every available weapon against Musk's business empire, how badly could it hurt him? The short answer is: pretty badly. In fact, with some admittedly quick and dirty math, we can put a price tag on some of it. SpaceX and the $68bn black hole. Elon Musk's estimated $388bn fortune — already $26.6bn smaller than it was before this frank exchange of thermonuclear warheads — depends on the success of two companies which are both intertwined with the US political system. One is Tesla, which makes electric vehicles; the other is SpaceX, which builds rockets, spacecraft, and satellites. X, formerly Twitter, can be left aside for now; having bought the social network 2022 for $44bn, Musk is still struggling to recoup his investment and has almost certainly lost money overall. Let's start with Space Exploration Technologies Corp., aka SpaceX. Not many people can afford to rent a rocket, so a lot of its business comes from government contracts, and U.S. government contracts most of all. As of writing, according to federal data, the Texas-based company has been paid or promised just under $21bn by Uncle Sam since 2008. The total potential value of all SpaceX's existing contracts, however, is much higher: $89.2bn. If Trump cancelled every contract tomorrow, that would mean a theoretical maximum of $68bn in lost potential income. For context, that's more than four times SpaceX's entire forecasted revenue for 2025, and nearly 15 times its revenue from 2022. Of course, there's no way to know if those maximum payments would ever actually have been made. So we could also get a rough sense of what SpaceX stands to lose by looking at the actual cash it received from federal coffers every year. In 2022 that was $2.8bn; in 2023, $3.1bn; and in 2024, $3.8bn. On the plus side for Musk, the US government is so dependent on SpaceX that some critics have called it a monopoly in the making. SpaceX ferries our astronauts to and from the International Space Station, is heavily involved in Nasa's moon landing program, and manages an increasing share of government satellite communications as well. Still, that does not guarantee safety. Would you really, in all soberness, bet against Donald Trump doing something that hurts the country merely to punish his personal enemies? In fact, as Talking Points Memo editor-in-chief Josh Marshall argues, SpaceX's critical role might actually put it in greater danger, because it leaves the feds with few options except "expropriation or nationalisation". Tesla in regulators' crosshairs?Like SpaceX, Tesla has benefited greatly from taxpayer money, mostly in the form of emission trading payments from non-electric carmakers and tax credits or consumers buying electric vehicles. An analysis by The Washington Post put Tesla's total income from emission credits since 2007 at $11.4bn as of this February. Its gain from tax credits, which allow more people to buy its cars at higher prices, has been estimated at $3.4bn. Those emission credit schemes are run by US states, not by the federal government. Nevertheless, Trump and the Republican Party have tried to undermine such schemes by contesting states' ability to set their own emissions rules. The wider impact is difficult to calculate. In contrast to SpaceX, Tesla sells to ordinary people, who tend to have their own opinions independent of government. In reputational terms, splitting noisily with Trump could reverse some of its recent sales losses; on the other hand, it might just make Tesla hated on both sides of politics. The biggest risk may be regulatory. At the time of Trump's second inauguration, Tesla was being investigated by numerous federal agencies including the Justice Department, the National Labor Relations Board, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration — which by itself had six pending probes. During his time at DOGE, Democrats feared Musk could use his power to influence or cancel these cases. But Trump's unabashed willingness to wield state power to punish those who displease him while rewarding loyalists cuts both ways. Live by the chainsaw, die by the chainsaw. How much that costs Tesla would depend on how far Trump is willing to go, and on the outcome of any ensuing court battle. But when U.S. stock exchanges closed on Thursday its share price had crashed by nearly 12 percent, wiping $122bn off its market value. Potential deportation — or worseSo far we've only addressed Elon Musk's finances. Yet there are other, more personal ways that Trump could hurt him if the former reality TV star truly isn't here to make friends. For example, Trump's old advisor Stephen Bannon — who has previously branded Musk a "parasitic illegal immigrant" — urged the administration to investigate Musk's immigration history, and potentially deport him. Unlike some of the feverish allegations that emanate from the extended Trump-o-sphere, this one actually has some substance. An investigation by The Washington Post last year alleged that Musk had worked illegally in the US while launching his Silicon Valley career in the mid-90s. Musk has denied this, and in any case he has been a US citizen since 2002. Still, legal experts have said his citizenship could technically be revoked if he were proven to have lied to immigration authorities. And while those laws have only rarely been enforced in the past 25 years, some Trump aides and allies have said they want that to change. Nor is that anywhere close to the only alleged skeleton in Musk's closet. What is his relationship with ecstasy, Adderall, ketamine, or magic mushrooms? Has he ever been in regular contact with Vladimir Putin? Did his colleagues at DOGE rigorously follow information security laws when extracting sensitive data from federal systems? What happened to all that data after it was obtained? At least we can probably can rule out plain old assassination by government special forces. Although, to be fair, that is literally something that Trump and his lawyers have argued should be protected by presidential immunity.
Gulf Today
10 hours ago
- Gulf Today
Vance silence on Musk may be Game of Thrones tactic ever
Richard Hall, The Independent The kingdom is in turmoil, the great Houses of Musk and Trump at war, and their subjects forced to choose sides. But as the scheming Littlefinger in Game of Thrones famously said as he plotted to take the King's place: 'chaos is a ladder.' And so it is for JD Vance, the ostensibly loyal vice president, and perhaps the person who stands to benefit the most from the chaos unleashed by the feud between Elon Musk and Donald Trump — which is perhaps why he's remaining uncharacteristically subdued. Vance has never been one to shy away from a fight, especially an online one, especially if it's in defense of his boss. He once launched a 400-word diatribe against historian Niall Ferguson for criticising Trump's Ukraine policy, slamming his "moralistic garbage" and "historical illiteracy." He had no problem accusing senior members of his own party of "pettiness" for voting against what Trump wanted, and mocked world leaders who've had run ins with the president. The practicing Catholic even found himself on the wrong side of the Pope himself when he got into another online beef with British politician Rory Stewart over Trump's deportation policies. So one would expect the online warrior to rush to the defense of his president in response to the firestorm of abuse unleashed by Musk against the president on Thursday, which began with accusations of ungratefulness and ended with claims of him being close to Jeffrey Epstein. But Vance has been remarkably quiet. His only public comment at the time of writing has been the kind of terse statement a wife gives in support of a cheating politician spouse. "President Trump has done more than any person in my lifetime to earn the trust of the movement he leads. I'm proud to stand beside him," Vance wrote on X. The next day, he continued with his lawyerly posts. "There are many lies the corporate media tells about President Trump. One of the most glaring is that he's impulsive or short-tempered. Anyone who has seen him operate under pressure knows that's ridiculous," he wrote. "It's (maybe) the single biggest disconnect between fake media perception and reality," he went on. Where was the combative Vance who demanded the Ukrainian president say thank you to his boss in the Oval Office? The one who told Kamala Harris to "go to hell" over the Biden administration's handling of the withdrawal from Afghanistan? Instead, Vance did not utter Musk's name in the 24 hours since the feud burst into the open. Vance was asked by Trump to remain diplomatic in his dealings with Musk, The Independent learned from a source familiar with the situation. Regardless, the VP has other motivations for keeping quiet. For years, he has been dogged by rumors of dual loyalties between the tech billionaires who fueled his rise and the president he now serves. Vance first came to public attention as the best-selling author of Hillbilly Elegy, a memoir of a rough Appalachian upbringing that many liberals praised as an intellectual explanation of Trump's appeal to the white working class. But before that book set him on a path to Congress and the Senate, he was already being courted by a set of right-wing tech billionaires known as the "PayPal mafia" — the billionaires Musk, David Sacks and Peter Thiel, who worked together at the pioneering online payments company back in the late Nineties and early Noughties and were bound together by a belief in deregulation, libertarianism and later, by darker right-wing ideology that railed against multiculturalism. Vance was working in venture capital at the time and went to work for Thiel at his San Francisco investment house, Mithril Capital. Thiel would be instrumental to Vance's rise, backing his campaign for Senate in 2021-22 to the tune of $15 million, and reportedly introduced Vance to Trump. The trio of Musk, Sacks and Thiel were instrumental in convincing Trump to choose Vance as his running mate, seeing in him an ideological ally, the libertarian tech investor who could one day take over as president. Some have gone so far as to call Vance a Manchurian Candidate for the tech elite. When the feud between Musk and Trump spilled out into the open, Musk was not shy about announcing his desire for Vance to take over as president. He responded to a tweet calling for Trump to be impeached and replaced with Vance with one word: "Yes." That is not an empty threat. Vance's path to the White House would inevitably require the support of Musk, the man who spent $395 million on electing Republicans in 2024. So his decision to ignore Musk's call for mutiny is an interesting — and calculated — choice. Much like Littlefinger, Vance has made sharp ideological turns and formed strategic alliances to find his way to within arm's length of the throne. He was once vehemently opposed to Trump, only to radically change course to stand by his side in his quest for power. But, spoiler alert, his fictional counterpart's calculating and maneuvering didn't end well for him. Trump spent his entire first term weeding out traitors, and claims to have gotten very good at it over the years. Will he be able to sniff out Vance?
