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Ignore the Tory talking points: Jenrick’s defection is Kemi’s biggest blunder yet

Nigel Farage stands to benefit from having a talented politician with cabinet experience Daily Telegraph 18/02/26 It’s hard to know which Tory claim of the last week is more ridiculous. The one suggesting Kemi Badenoch handled Robert Jenrick’s defection to Reform well. Or the one suggesting the Tories are better off without him. We’ve heard both absurdities in the last week, when the reality is Nigel Farage has been handed yet another nail to hammer into the Tory coffin. Let’s take the first one first: that Badenoch did a great job in firing him. It’s true that taking fast and decisive action – with a rapid briefing on her own terms – was a technical success. But too many people are missing a more fundamental point: Jenrick partly left because she consistently treated him badly after her leadership win. Jenrick ran a decent, energetic leadership campaign and had extensive experience in Government, not least as a cabinet minister. Even though Tory ranks were hugely depleted after...
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Britain’s entrepreneurs are starting to miss the 1970s

Even power cuts and the three-day week seem preferable to today’s circumstances for businesses Daily Telegraph 13/01/26 While the voice of big business is seldom absent from public debate with its professional lobbying and media operations, family businesses receive less of a hearing, which is surprising because they comprise 85 per cent of all British businesses and provide more than half of the UK’s private-sector employment. To get a sense of what the people who run the businesses, that make up the backbone of our economy, think about the current economic and political climate, the Jobs Foundation commissioned a poll of more than 1,100 family business leaders. The verdict is in, and it’s not pretty. It is important to say from the outset that their deep sense of disillusionment is not confined to the current government. Just one in five say that they trust the Conservatives the most to help their business thrive – a poor result for a party which has historically received stron...
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Jenrick: Tories broke Britain

Former frontbencher launches savage attack on Conservatives as he defects to Reform Daily Telegraph 15 January 2026 10:20pm GMT Robert Jenrick declared that the Conservative Party “broke Britain” in a highly personal attack on former colleagues as he defected to Reform UK. Speaking at a press conference alongside Nigel Farage, the Reform leader, on Thursday, Mr Jenrick called his former party “rotten”, “dishonest” and “no longer fit for purpose”. Arguing that the Tories lacked the “backbone” to solve the country’s problems, the former shadow justice secretary criticised Sir Mel Stride, the shadow chancellor, for overseeing an “explosion of the welfare bill” and Dame Priti Patel, the shadow foreign secretary, for enabling “five million migrants to come” to Britain. Writing for The Telegraph, Mr Jenrick also singled out Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative Party leader, saying her team was not “willing to change”. His shock departure will raise fears in Tory circles of more defectio...
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Four million denied a vote in attack on democracy

Tories and Reform accuse Prime Minister of ‘running scared’ of the electorate as at least 27 council elections are expected to be cancelled Daily Telegraph 13/01/26 Four million people are to be denied the vote in May’s local elections in a “disgraceful attack on democracy” by Labour. The Government is expected to cancel at least 27 council elections, meaning hundreds of councillors will avoid the risk of being voted out. The Tories and Reform accused Sir Keir Starmer of “running scared” of the electorate at a time when polls show a collapse in support for Labour. Nigel Farage’s party will on Thursday launch a judicial review in an attempt to make the elections go ahead. The Prime Minister is relying on an obscure clause in the 2000 Local Government Act which gives his ministers the power to delay votes. The Telegraph on Thursday launches a Campaign for Democracy calling for this rule to be scrapped, forcing ministers to seek a full vote in Parliament for any delay to votes. ...
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After pubs, here are the next climbdowns for the Chancellor

Rachel Reeves must make more policy reversals before they crush entrepreneurs and small businesses Daily Telegraph 10/01/26 Far from an “iron Chancellor”, Rachel Reeves should probably now be called the “marshmallow Chancellor”. She has proven once again that as soon as it becomes painfully clear how much pointless damage one of her idiotic policies is doing to the economy, she will be as pliable as the sugary snack and perform a screeching about-turn. Over the next few days, a support package for pubs will be unveiled after she imposed punishing increases in business rates in her Budget three months ago. It follows reversals on the winter fuel allowance and on inheritance tax on farmers. Yet there are at least four more major reversals that Reeves needs to make before they crush entrepreneurs and small businesses – and the sooner she changes her mind, the better. It remains to be seen whether the rescue plan for pubs actually works. It is extraordinary that Reeves could not wor...
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The end of Iran’s brutal reign of terror will benefit the entire world

We have not stressed the ‘revolutionary’ aspect of the Islamic Revolution enough Daily Telegraph 11/01/26 What do these countries have in common? Argentina, Australia, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Kenya, Kuwait, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sweden, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States. The answer is that all have been on the receiving end of Iranian terrorism, either directly or through a Tehran-backed proxy, such as Hezbollah. Think about that list. What possible interest could the ayatollahs have had in, say, Buenos Aires, which lies 8,500 miles from Tehran? In 1994, a militant drove an explosives-laden van into a Jewish community centre, killing 85 people and injuring more than 300. Argentine prosecutors followed the trail back to Iranian state officials. Why, for Heaven’s sake? Why Argentina? Maybe just to show that they could. Maybe the mullahs were flaunting their reach, demonstrating that they could strike where they wanted. That charred horror was what “globalise the ...
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Defect to Reform or shadow chancellor: What next on Jenrick’s long march Rightwards?

Fellow Tories fear the ambitious Newark MP, once liberal on immigration and an ardent Remainer, is on a path that ends with Farage’s party Daily Telegraph 09/01/26 Laila Cunningham’s assertion that Robert Jenrick would not be welcome in Reform UK will have landed awkwardly with Nigel Farage, who has spent months attempting to keep the Newark MP within his orbit. Reform’s newly unveiled London mayoral candidate said she would not want to see Jenrick defect because he “allowed migrant hotels to flourish” while serving as immigration minister under Rishi Sunak. It was a pointed intervention and one that cuts directly across Farage’s subtle courtship of the former Conservative leadership contender. Jenrick, who has hardened his rhetoric in recent years, is keen to remind anyone listening that he resigned from government over what he described as the failure to control Britain’s borders. That version of events sits uneasily with his past. Critics are quick to dredge up his insistence ...
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