London, Jan 15 (AP) Britain's Conservative Party, which governed the country from 2010 until it suffered its worst-ever electoral defeat two years ago, was plunged into fresh turmoil Thursday after its leader sacked the man widely seen as her greatest rival for apparently plotting to defect from the party.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said on X that she sacked the party's justice spokesperson Robert Jenrick due to “irrefutable evidence that he was plotting in secret to defect” from the party. Badenoch also ejected Jenrick from the party's ranks in Parliament and suspended his party membership.
"The British public are tired of political psychodrama and so am I," she said. "They saw too much of it in the last government, they're seeing too much of it in this government. I will not repeat those mistakes."
Though Badenoch did not specify which party Jenrick was planning to switch to, Nigel Farage, leader of the hard-right Reform UK party, said he had “of course” had conversations with him.
Farage said in a press briefing that coincided with Badenoch's statement that, “hand on heart,” he wasn't about to present Jenrick as the latest Conservative to defect to Reform.
The Conservatives are fighting not just the Labour government to their left, but Reform UK to the right. Reform has topped opinion polls for months, trounced the Conservatives in May's local elections and has welcomed a stream of defecting Tory members and officials. (AP) ZH
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