Tory Civil War: Badenoch Slams Jenrick Over ‘Broken Britain’ Claim

Kemi Badenoch clashes with Robert Jenrick over claims of a broken Britain, deepening the Conservative Party crisis as defections and leadership tensions rise.

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Jan 17, 2026 - 17:05

Tory Civil War: Badenoch Slams Jenrick Over ‘Broken Britain’ Claim

Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch has insisted that Britain is not broken, after her former ministerial colleague Robert Jenrick criticised the party for not campaigning on that issue.

Writing in the Daily Telegraph, she said: "Our country is still one of the most successful, strong and influential nations on earth," and added that telling voters "your country is finished" only "demoralises them".

She also insisted that the Conservative Party had become stronger since Jenrick's departure, before he joined Reform UK.

In an interview with Laura Kuenssberg on Friday, Jenrick said a shadow cabinet meeting, where his colleagues failed to agree that the country was broken, was the final straw for him.

In her editorial, Badenoch said the UK has problems, some of which are getting worse, but the country's best days are yet to come.

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She insisted the Conservative Party is best placed to offer solutions to the country's problems, saying Reform UK is doomed to fail because they welcome "toxic people" who "destroy organisations".

The opposition leader wrote: "A movement built on grievances and constant disloyalty is bound to fail, and they will soon be turning on each other."

In a separate editorial in the Daily Express, Badenoch said that "some things are broken in Britain, but they are not so broken that they cannot be fixed".

She also criticised politicians who "talk Britain down instead of showing a plan to rebuild Britain".

On Friday, Reform UK's deputy leader Richard Tice praised Jenrick, calling him "the only cabinet minister in the Conservative government to resign on a matter of principle". This was in reference to Jenrick's resignation from Rishi Sunak's government, in which he stated that the government was not doing enough to address rapidly rising immigration levels.

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Tice continued: "This makes him uniquely qualified to explain where things went so badly wrong on both legal and illegal immigration, which is making millions of British people angry."

Tice added: "Robert has a lot of experience, and we've been criticised for not having the experience to govern and handle things – and now we bring in someone with that experience and we're still being criticised."

Badenoch said that Jenrick's defection was "never about principle, it was about ambition" and that "everything he now criticises happened when he was in government." She wrote that the Conservative Party is now a "stronger and more united team."

Badenoch hopes that removing Jenrick will strengthen her position as Tory leader and make her appear decisive.

But Reform UK now has a new, prominent MP who is determined to expose the many failings of his former party.

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