A summary of today's developments
Robert Jenrick made a dramatic defection to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK on Thursday after being sacked by Kemi Badenoch for plotting against her.
Jenrick had the Conservative whip removed and his party membership suspended earlier in the day, after Badenoch said she had found “irrefutable evidence” that he was planning to defect. The Tory leader appointed the West Suffolk MP Nick Timothy as shadow justice secretary after Jenrick’s sacking.
The Reform leader Nigel Farage called it the “latest Christmas present I’ve ever had” and said it was still “60/40” if Jenrick would defect until Badenoch forced his hand. However, Jenrick later admitted that he had already resolved to defect by the morning of his sacking, and that it would probably have happened in the coming days.
Jenrick said discussions had started with Reform in September, understood to have been facilitated by the former Tory adviser Tim Montgomerie, who joined Farage’s party in December 2024. He also confirmed that he would not call a byelection in his Newark constituency. But Jenrick added that there had not been discussions about a defection, but about the state of the country.
Farage said that after the 7 May local elections there would be no more Tory defections, and Reform would reject more seeking to join. He said Jenrick was “in sackcloth and ashes” about decisions made during his time in the Tory government. Anna Turley, the Labour chair, said: “Robert Jenrick says the Tories broke Britain. Now he wants to do the same again with Farage’s Reform. He’s a shameless chancer who, like the other failed Tories who have scuttled off to Reform, are more interested in their careers than the country.”
The multimillionaire financier who has been made leader of Reform UK in Scotland has refused to say how wealthy he is, claiming that is a private matter. Malcolm Offord, formerly a Conservative party life peer, was unveiled by Reform’s leader Nigel Farage as the party’s first Scottish leader, 10 weeks before a Scottish parliament election where Reform is expected to win up to 18 seats.
A Liverpool Labour MP has called for further changes to the proposed Hillsborough Law amid concerns that it leaves loopholes in applying the duty of candour to the intelligence services.
Amendments proposed by the government on Wednesday brought spies within the scope of the legislation, subject to the approval of the head of their service.
But campaigners have said this would allow the heads of the security services to decide whether to disclose information.
Ian Byrne, the Liverpool West Derby MP, posted on X: “I cannot, in all good conscience, support any amendments that abandon the Manchester Arena bombing families, nuclear test veterans, or the Chinook disaster families.
“I made a commitment to deliver the Hillsborough Law… without exemptions, without loopholes and without carve-outs.
“The government made this promise in its manifesto. If the government’s amendments are passed then the legislation, in its current form, is not that.”
Byrne has tabled several amendments of his own so the duty of candour would apply not only to intelligence organisations but also to people who work for them.
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