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Robert Jenrick with Reform UK leader Nigel Farage at a press conference in Westminster | PAMr Jenrick jumped ship to Reform on Thursday
The shadow Scottish secretary has accused Robert Jenrick of conducting himself in a "disgusting way" after he defected from the Conservatives to Reform UK.
Andrew Bowie said Mr Jenrick's behaviour had left a "very bitter taste in the mouth".
Mr Jenrick’s sudden defection on Thursday came hours after UK Tory leader Kemi Badenoch dismissed him as shadow justice secretary and suspended him from the Conservative Party, accusing him of plotting to jump ship to Reform.
Robert Jenrick with Reform UK leader Nigel Farage at a press conference in Westminster | PAMr Jenrick claimed his former party was "rotten" and had betrayed voters, and singled out ex-colleagues for criticism, while also calling Britain “broken”.
"The sense of betrayal that I think is being felt by colleagues, and the disgusting way in which he conducted himself this week, I think leaves a very bitter taste in the mouth," Mr Bowie told BBC Scotland's Sunday Show.
"It does him a lot more damage than it does Kemi or the Conservative Party."
Mr Bowie, the MP for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, denied Britain is broken.
“Britain can be a lot better,” he said. “But I don’t believe that this great country, this country of which I am so proud to have served and now represent in parliament, is broken beyond repair, which seems to be the language of Reform, mirroring the language of the SNP.
“The ‘Britain is broken’ narrative plays right into the hands of the Nationalists, who want to break this country apart and set us on a different course.”
Ms Badenoch previously said Mr Jenrick was now “Nigel Farage’s problem” and that he creates “instability” wherever he goes.
“Reform has been taking a lot of people who could not find work elsewhere,” she said. “They’ve been taking people who are repeatedly sacked from government. What I’m saying is that Nigel Farage is doing my spring cleaning.
“The problems are going, we are even more united than we were, because we’re a stronger team… Robert Jenrick was not a team player.”
On Thursday, Mr Jenrick accused the Tories of lacking the “stomach for the radical change this country needs”.
In a scathing attack on his former party, which he said had “failed so badly” in government, the ex-minister said the Conservatives in Westminster were “not sorry” and “in denial – or being dishonest” about what they had done.