In a scathing attack, former Conservative minister Robert Jenrick has claimed he repeatedly urged Kemi Badenoch to kick Liz Truss out of the party, citing the “disastrous” impact of her 2022 mini-budget. Jenrick, who dramatically defected to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party last week, accused the Tories of “betraying its voters and members” and being “in denial” about the party’s record.
Speaking to Sky News, Jenrick said he would have “chucked Liz Truss out of the party” if he had been leader, as her economic policies had caused “real harm” to people’s mortgages, investments and pensions. He argued that the Conservative Party had failed to change, pointing to Badenoch’s refusal to expel Truss as proof.
Truss, who served just seven weeks as prime minister before being ousted by her own MPs in 2022, has previously been forced to deny being the UK’s worst premier. Under her leadership, the pound fell to a 37-year low as a result of her massive borrowing package to fund the biggest tax cuts in half a century.
Jenrick also told Times Radio that Badenoch was unwilling to acknowledge the scale of Britain’s challenges, claiming she and the Conservatives had “their heads in the sand.” However, in a recent article for The Daily Telegraph, Badenoch insisted that the UK remained “one of the most successful, resilient and influential countries on Earth.”
The former minister’s defection to Reform UK comes amid growing tensions within the Conservative Party, with Jenrick accusing his former colleagues of betraying the party’s voters and members. His scathing criticism of Truss and Badenoch’s leadership highlights the deep divisions within the Tories as they struggle to rebuild trust and credibility with the electorate.