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Kemi Badenoch made a dramatic move to tighten her control of the Tories today by sacking former rival Robert Jenrick for plotting to defect.
In a crucial moment that could help decide the future of British politics, Mrs Badenoch announced that she had seen 'irrefutable evidence' that the shadow justice secretary was intending to betray her.
He is alleged to have left the text of a near-completed resignation speech and a 'media plan' lying around where it could be discovered - although when challenged by the Tory chief whip Rebecca Harris in a phone call this morning he apparently protested his innocence. Mr Jenrick has yet to give any response to the shock development.
Mrs Badenoch seems to have carefully timed her ambush so Nigel Farage was grilled on the breaking news during a visit to Scotland this morning.
He denied that he had been about to unveil Mr Jenrick as a defector at a press conference scheduled to take place in London later, accusing Mrs Badenoch of 'panic'.
But he confirmed he had been in talks with Mr Jenrick, adding: 'I'll give him a ring this afternoon... I might even buy him a pint, you never know.'
Mrs Badenoch's allies told the Daily Mail they were hopeful the decisive step would stem the issues, voicing confidence that Mr Jenrick's close allies would not follow him out of the door.
One senior MP joked that the only tears they were crying over the departure were 'of laughter'. 'That woman has got some cojones,' they added.
However, others warned that Mrs Badenoch must release the evidence against Mr Jenrick to prove she is not merely 'kneecapping' a potential rival.
The Lib Dems jibed that the Tories looked to be recreating scenes from hit TV game show The Traitors.
Dropping the bombshell in a video posted on social media at 11.06am, Mrs Badenoch said: 'I have sacked Robert Jenrick from the Shadow Cabinet, removed the whip and suspended his party membership with immediate effect.
'I was presented with clear, irrefutable evidence that he was plotting in secret to defect in a way designed to be as damaging as possible to his Shadow Cabinet colleagues and the wider Conservative Party.
'The British public are tired of political psychodrama and so am I. They saw too much of it in the last government, they're seeing too much of it in THIS government. I will not repeat those mistakes.'
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said she has sacked shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick due to 'irrefutable evidence that he was plotting in secret to defect' from the party
Nigel Farage seemed to be alerted to the breaking news by a press officer as he was unveiling the party's new leader in Scotland
The Reform chief has already unveiled one high-profile Tory recruit this week, with former Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi jumping ship.
Mr Jenrick is said to have raised suspicions by consorting with senior Reform figures, including having dinner with Nigel Farage himself last month.
He has at times seemed far more open to the idea of an 'alliance of the right' than the leader.
Meanwhile, Mrs Badenoch's own position is seen as having strengthened recently, after a string of potent performances at Tory conference and in the Commons sparked an uptick in the polls.
Mr Jenrick was defeated by Mrs Badenoch for the Tories' top job in November 2024.
However, he has constantly fuelled speculation about his ambitions by roving well beyond his justice portfolio.
There have been persistent rumours linking him with a move to Reform, but he has previously played the idea down.
On December 4 Mr Jenrick said: 'It wasn't very long ago that I was running to be leader of the Conservative Party so I'm not going anywhere.'
Some big players in Reform have also suggested they would not want him, while Mr Farage previously insisted he 'always' thought Mr Jenrick was a 'fraud'.
At a press conference in Scotland this morning Mr Farage was coy about how advanced his talks with Mr Jenrick has been.
'I'm very surprised that this news is broken,' he said.
Asked if he had been speaking to Mr Jenrick, the Reform leader said: 'I never reveal private conversations of anybody, which is why when people like Malcolm (Offord) came to me to talk, and he was a frontbencher, nothing ever leaked.
'I'm going to say that I've had conversations with a number of very senior Conservatives over the course of the last week, over the course of the last month.'
Pressed again about whether he had spoken to the now ex-shadow justice secretary, Mr Farage said: 'Of course I've talked to Robert Jenrick. Was I on the verge of signing a document with him? No. But have we had conversations? Yes.'
Mr Farage added: 'I think virtually every Conservative is considering leaving the Conservatives, yes.'
Asked if this included Mr Jenrick, he replied: 'I think that's been in his mind, yes. I've little doubt it's been in his mind.'
Conservative Party chairman Kevin Hollinrake called Mr Jenrick's move 'treacherous', 'disloyal' and 'unforgivable'.
Mr Hollinrake told the BBC: 'It's fair to say Rob didn't take losing the leadership contest very well, so I think it's been difficult at times with Rob trying to get him on side.
'We didn't expect this. We didn't want this. But having seen what we've seen, there was no other course of action Kemi could take.'
He told Radio 5 Live's Matt Chorley show that the sources for the information were sensitive, but added: 'I've seen the evidence. It is compelling, it is irrefutable and it is damning.'
A Tory source said of Mr Jenrick: 'We have had lots of reports coming in that he was meeting with Reform. He went for dinner with Nigel Farage last month, he had been speaking to people within Westminster about the possibility of a defection.
'His team has spoken to various people, including journalists, about defection.
'Kemi doesn't take decisions lightly, she thinks about these things, she analyses things properly. But the evidence was just totally irrefutable that this was going to be done to inflict maximum pain on the party.'
Nadine Dorries, one of the first big Conservative names to defect to Reform, said Mrs Badenoch had taken the 'least worst' of all the 'worst' options she faced.
But the ex-minister told GB News that the leader looked 'scared' and 'weak'.
'She's acting like a wife who's discovered that her husband is having an affair and she's thrown his clothes onto the driveway,' she said.
Former Cabinet minister Jacob Rees-Mogg said he initially thought reports of the sacking were an 'AI fake'.
The Tory told Sky News that Mrs Badenoch needs to release proof of Mr Jenrick's looming betrayal.
'If the evidence is there she has made a really bold move that will strengthen her leadership. It makes her look decisive capable and strong,' he said.
If on the other hand the evidence is not there then she has kneecapped a potential challenger for the leadership... it is either a very good decision or a very bad one.'
Ex-chancellor George Osborne also warned that the 'pyschodrama' in the Tories is 'just beginning'.
He told the Political Currency podcast: 'Is Kemi Badenoch forcing his hand or has her hand been forced because he'd already made his decision? She's certainly saying she'd seen evidence he was about to defect.
'Then that is the proper beginning of the civil war inside right about who is going to lead the right, and what are Tory MPs going to do?
'Are they going to defect to Reform? Is the pressure going to grow to have an alliance with Reform? Or are they going to say, look, the Jenricks of this world can leave, but we think the future lies with the Tory party…
'If she thinks the psychodrama is over, I'm afraid it's just beginning.'
Join the debate
Is this strong leadership from Badenoch or a sign of Tory chaos?
The Lib Dems jibed that the Tories looked to be recreating scenes from hit TV game show The Traitors
Mr Farage previously insisted he 'always' thought Mr Jenrick was a 'fraud'
The Conservative councillor for the Newark West ward on Nottinghamshire County Council has said he feels 'totally betrayed' by Mr Jenrick.
Keith Girling said: 'I'm obviously very, very, very disappointed in Robert. I'm a great believer in loyalty and he's shown a complete lack of loyalty there.
'I think Kemi has done absolutely the right thing when she finds evidence of what he's plotting to do. She's shown real leadership there to sack him, kick him out of the party, and we'll deal with the aftermath.'
Asked if he felt betrayed, Mr Girling said: 'Totally betrayed. We've supported Robert with his political ambition, you know, he obviously wanted to be the leader (of the Conservative Party).
'Clearly he was disappointed he didn't get that. But that's not down to the efforts of this association who's always supported him, you know, and he's really just sort of turned his back on all that, on that loyalty, and gone his own way.
'I think that's quite shameful, really.'
Keir Starmer said Mrs Badenoch had only 'got round' to sacking Mr Jenrick when he was about to defect, branding her 'weak'.
Jenrick's journey from Tory leadership hopeful to ... Reform MP?Robert Jenrick's unceremonious defenestration from the Conservative Party today ends a tumultuous chapter in a checkered political journey that has taken him from scandal-prone minister to leadership hopeful and then to outcast.
Mr Jenrick, 44, who was pipped to the party leadership by Mrs Badenoch in late 2024, has long been tipped to abandon the struggling Tories and line up alongside Nigel Farage.
He had raise eyebrows among commentators and his own colleagues as he appeared to regard every brief in the shadow cabinet as part of his responsibility.
As well as his mid-ranking justice brief, he would frequently dip into his former home affairs speciality, the shadow chancellor's role opposing the Treasury, defence, communities and housing to name a few.
Last May he made headlines when he filmed himself approaching three men at Stratford station in East London in an attempt to show the extent of fare dodging in the capital.
He has also been the subject of comment over his noticeable weight loss, finally admitting he had used weight-loss drugs.
While denying he was planning to defect to Reform he made several warm overtures towards Mr Farage, even when it went against Mrs Badenoch's party line.
In April he was recorded proposing a 'coalition' to unite Tory and Reform UK voters at the next election.
He told Conservative students that 'one way or another' centre-Right voters had to be united to ensure Keir Starmer does not 'sail through the middle' again.
But just six weeks ago he publicly denied he was going anywhere, telling Times Radio: 'It wasn't very long ago that I was running to be leader of the Conservative Party so I'm not going anywhere.'
Mr Jenrick, who was born in Wolverhampton and raised in Shropshire, had working class parents but went on to attend Cambridge.
He trained as a solicitor and previously worked in corporate law at leading international law firms in London and Moscow.
During his Tory leadership election campaign the father of three made much of his humble roots.
He later posed with his parents and his wife, Michal Berkner, who is nine years his senior and made headlines herself with her unhappy response to him losing the leadership election.
Having won Newark in a 2014 by-election (which included Nigel Farage), Theresa May promoted him to a Treasury minister in January 2018.
Ms May's demise saw him climb higher, with Boris Johnson promoting him to secretary of state for housing, communities and local government when the former premier took office in July 2019.
But his time around the cabinet table ended in controversy, when he was sacked after a string of high-profile and damaging incidents, including the unlawful approval of a Tory donor's housing development and eyebrow-raising journeys during lockdown.
The arrival of Liz Truss in Number 10 saw him return to Government for a short stint in the Department of Health.
Then in October 2022, with Rishi Sunak taking the top job, Mr Jenrick was appointed immigration minister.
But despite Mr Sunak's stated commitment to do 'everything it takes' to make the Rwanda scheme operational, Mr Jenrick shocked Westminster by resigning and becoming one of the PM's most strident backbench Tory critics.
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