Good work by Badenoch getting ahead of it. It takes the sting out of any defection, makes him look like a bit of a twat and sends a message to others considering the same.

— Luke McGee (@lukemcgee.bsky.social) 2026-01-15T11:15:16.739Z

Tory source on Robert Jenrick defection: "He never laid down the guns and now he has shot himself in the foot"

Aides to Jenrick left evidence lying around in a very "careless" way which made its way back to Kemi Badenoch

— Kitty Donaldson (@kitty_donaldson) January 15, 2026

What a morning, I wasn’t expecting this, I thought Robert Jenrick wouldn’t defect as he would bide his time and look to remove Badenoch after the May elections.

This certainly strengthens Kemi Badenoch’s position in the short term and will blunt any Jenrick defection. I might laugh so much I might injure myself if Nigel Farage now stops Jenrick defecting to Reform.

Long term this might be sub-optimal for Kemi Badenoch, having previously spoken to people close to the Tory party one of the things keeping Kemi Badenoch safe was the worry that she’d be replaced by the human colostomy bag that is Robert Jenrick, now that outcome has been removed she might be more vulnerable, right now it definitely is a lay the favourite market.

TSE