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Is Robert Jenrick on manoeuvres?

Is Robert Jenrick on manoeuvres?

Spectator25-04-2025

Despite this being the week that Kemi Badenoch finally showed some steel in PMQs, it's Robert Jenrick who has been stealing the headlines. That's for lots of reasons – mainly his comments about a potential Tory Reform pact, which he clarified on Good Morning Britain this morning, saying: 'Kemi Badenoch and I are on exactly the same page. Kemi has been very clear there won't be a pact with Reform, and I've said time and again that I want to put Reform out of business. I want to send Nigel Farage back to retirement.' This follows leaked footage which surfaced this week from a student event in late March, where he appeared to suggest that he would back a pact to join forces with Farage.
Elsewhere, he had a big win when Yvette Cooper announced that the government will publish migrant crime league tables – a policy he has pushed for. Is he the prince across the water? Or do we need to give Kemi a break?
Oscar Edmondson speaks to James Heale and Henry Hill, deputy editor at Conservative Home.
Produced by Oscar Edmondson.

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