Jenrick campaign leader 'gutted' by MP's defection

A Conservative councillor who led Robert Jenrick's campaign to be re-elected in Newark has said he is "absolutely gutted" by his defection to Reform UK.

Sam Smith, leader of the opposition at the Reform UK-led Nottinghamshire County Council, said he was unaware that Jenrick was planning to leave the Conservative Party.

The former shadow minister announced at a press conference on Thursday that he would join Nigel Farage's party, having been sacked by Tory leader Kemi Badenoch.

Speaking at the conference, Jenrick said that it is "time for the truth", adding that "Britain is in decline".

In an interview with BBC Radio Nottingham on Friday, Smith, who also ran the MP's Tory leadership bid, said he thought his friend had made "a bit of a silly move".

"It did hurt and on a personal level I am absolutely gutted," he said.

"I am really good friends with him and I've dedicated five years of my life or more to working with him, getting him re-elected in Newark in 2024.

"I know he has a past of not getting on with Nigel Farage.

"He's campaigned against Reform with me in Nottinghamshire, so it's interesting how quickly things can turn.

"It's the Nigel Farage show and the people of Newark didn't vote for Reform."

In a video posted on Thursday, the Conservative leader said she had "clear, irrefutable evidence he was plotting in secret to defect in a way designed to be as damaging as possible to his shadow cabinet colleagues and the wider Conservative Party".

Later that day, Farage thanked Badenoch for what he called "the latest Christmas present I've ever had" before introducing Jenrick.

The Newark MP said he had been meeting Farage since September 2025, and had already "resolved to leave" the Conservatives before his sacking.

"Both Labour and the Conservatives broke Britain," Jenrick said.

"And both are now dominated by those without the competence or backbone needed to fix it."

Jenrick becomes the second sitting Tory MP - after Danny Kruger in September 2025 - to switch to Farage's party, which has been consistently leading in national opinion polls for months.

He confirmed he would not resign to force a by-election in his Newark constituency and would stand as a Reform UK candidate.

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