Robert Jenrick, the Conservative shadow justice secretary, has defected to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK after being sacked from the Conservative shadow cabinet.

The former shadow justice secretary had the Conservative whip removed and his party membership suspended on Thursday morning after his party leader, Kemi Badenoch, said she had found “irrefutable evidence” that he was planning to defect from the party.

Mr Jenrick, who stood for the Tory leadership against Ms Badenoch, said the Conservative party in Westminster “isn’t sorry, it doesn’t get it, it hasn’t changed, it won’t change, it can’t change” before launching into a broadside against his former colleagues, including Mel Stride and Priti Patel.

“In opposition, it is easy to paper over these cracks, but the divisions and delusions are still there,” he said at a hastily organised press conference with Mr Farage in Westminster on Thursday. “I can’t in good conscience stick with a party that has failed so badly.”

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Ms Badenoch’s sacking appeared to have caught both her leadership rival and Mr Farage off guard.

The Reform UK leader called it the “latest Christmas present I’ve ever had” and said it was still “60-40” if Jenrick would defect until Ms Badenoch forced his hand.

As Mr Farage announced Mr Jenrick’s defection, there was a lengthy delay before the former shadow minister arrived on stage, while the Reform UK leader wondered aloud if Jenrick had changed his mind.

But he arrived on stage with a denunciation of his former party and its time in government.

“What’s the truth? Both Labour and the Conservatives broke Britain. Both parties are committed to a set of ideas that have failed Britain,” he said.

Mr Jenrick, who said he would not call a byelection, said he had started discussions with Reform in September, understood to have been facilitated by the former Tory adviser Tim Montgomerie, who joined Mr Farage’s party in December 2024.

But he said there had not been discussions about a defection, but about the state of the country. “Nothing has been offered, I’m proud to join and work with a set of people I have come to know over a very long time … who have built this party from nothing and I’m just here to play my part,” he said.

Mr Farage said that after the May 7th local elections there would be no more Tory defections, and Reform would reject more seeking to join. He said Mr Jenrick was “in sackcloth and ashes” about decisions made during his time in the Tory government.

Over the course of the next few weeks, Reform UK would begin to allocate jobs and responsibilities to key people, Mr Farage said.

Mr Jenrick is understood to have discussed Reform’s economic policies with Farage, but any appointment as the party’s economic spokesperson would put him on a collision course with the MP Richard Tice, who has long suggested he would be the party’s future chancellor.

Mr Farage said that he knew the party had to have some experienced people if they were to enter government. “We need the experience, I think that’s absolutely vital.”

Mr Jenrick denied he was interested in becoming the leader of Reform UK. “No one joins Reform unless they believe Nigel Farage is the best person to lead this country … that’s why I’ve put aside my personal ambition.”

Westminster sources said Ms Badenoch had been monitoring Mr Jenrick’s activities for some time because of suspicions he was working to undermine the party and they believed his defection to Reform was imminent.

A resignation speech was discovered and sent to one of Ms Badenoch’s team, parts of which were released by the Conservative party on Thursday. – The Guardian