Checked out: Jenrick’s migrant hotel record haunts his rightwing bid for attention

Several Conservatives say they are uneasy about Jenrick’s performative tactics and accuse him of being more interested in lining up a leadership bid than helping his party. Photograph: @RobertJenrick/Twitter/X

Robert Jenrick had been migration minister for just a few days in 2022 when he gave a broadcast interview that could easily have been given by a minister in the current government.

“Suella Braverman [the former home secretary] and her predecessor, Priti Patel, were procuring more hotels,” he told Sky News. “What I have done in my short tenure is ramp that up and procure even more. Because November, historically, has been one of the highest months of the year for migrants illegally crossing the Channel.”