Jenrick hits back at Badenoch’s claims he lied, amid war of words with ex-party

Reform UK’s Robert Jenrick has hit back at claims from his former boss Kemi Badenoch that he lied about a senior Tory telling him he had a “special place in hell”, by sharing a series of text messages.

Mr Jenrick last week dramatically defected to Reform after being sacked by Conservative leader Mrs Badenoch from her front bench.

In an interview with GB News on Thursday that appears to have sparked a war of words with the Tories, Mr Jenrick said he had received a message from a Conservative colleague in March 2024, in which they said he had a “special place in hell”.

He claimed this came after he wrote a newspaper opinion piece which argued for redirecting foreign aid funding towards defence.

Speaking on the same channel on Friday, Conservative leader Mrs Badenoch accused her former colleague of lying about the messages.

He then responded on social media site X, posting a screenshot of what appeared to be a text message from Tory chief whip Rebecca Harris, which read “You have a really special place in hell”.

Other messages in the image called Mr Jenrick a “bloodsucker” and a “user”, and suggested he and former home secretary Suella Braverman resign from the Conservative Party.

However, the context for these messages appeared to be Ms Harris sharing “feedback” from other Tories who disagreed with Mr Jenrick.

“This is actual feedback/leave the party and be a commentator”, the first text in the image said, followed by the other messages from what appeared to be Ms Harris’s phone.

No date was provided for when the message exchange in the image took place.

“They still won’t tell the truth,” Mr Jenrick said in his post accompanying the image.

A Reform source said: “The Tories lied to you in office and Kemi and her team have been caught red-handed lying to the public again.

“Senior MPs at the heart of the Tory party privately think it’s evil to spend money on our armed forces over foreign aid. They simply cannot be trusted to serve the British people.”

But a Conservative source insisted Mr Jenrick was “lying again and misrepresenting an exchange he had over two years ago”.

The source added: “Those messages have absolutely nothing to do with cutting foreign aid. Instead they show a government whip trying to reason with someone who was working with the ‘Grid of Shit’ plotters, and whose scheming helped contribute to a Labour landslide and the worst result for the Conservative Party in its history.

“With his love of backstabbing and psychodrama, Jenrick will fit right in with Reform.”