As Kemi Badenoch delivered her latest set piece speech attacking Labour’s “job tax” this week, Tory eyes were being drawn, not for the first time, to her shadow Justice Secretary and one time leadership rival Robert Jenrick in the Commons.
Standing in front of a swiftly assembled backdrop, described by one onlooker as looking like an “abandoned mattress”, the Tory leader laid into the Government’s rise in employers’ national insurance before issuing warnings of the demise of free speech in Britain.
But despite running through her greatest hits, Tory grassroots on social media and beyond were more taken by the Jenrick’s performance on the same day as he tore into his opposite number Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood over the “two tier” Sentencing Council fiasco.
Conservative members’ former Pied Piper, Tim Montgomerie, who has since defected to Reform, took to Twitter/X to declare that Jenrick “exhibits more political energy in a day than Kemi Badenoch has in six months”.
The sharp performances and apparent omnipresence of Jenrick since losing the Tory leadership contest have inevitably led to whispers within the party that he is still on, what Westminster describes as, “manoeuvres”.
“I don’t think he ever really stopped campaigning,” one shadow minister told The i Paper.
Another senior Tory said that when he joined a team of activists campaigning recently he quipped that it “must be the biggest gathering of Tories of late that hasn’t attracted Robert Jenrick”.
“It drew a response and that’s because they all immediately understood what I was getting at. But he needs to be careful, because we only need to look at previous eras, such as Michael Heseltine, who thought they were going to be the next leader only to fail.”
Allies of Jenrick insist that this is not the case and believe that the overarching view of MPs in the parliamentary party is that they are pleased the shadow Justice Secretary is taking the fight to Labour.
But he has raised eyebrows with regular attacks against Labour on issues that are well-beyond his brief, such as his condemnation of the deal to sell the Chagos Islands and his regular dialling up of rhetoric around immigration – he has criticised “alien cultures with medieval attitudes towards women”.
Jenrick’s adroit use of social media, with his polished to-camera videos and US-style branding, has also turned heads and prompted claims that the party faithful made the wrong choice at the leadership election and that he should be at the helm.
A former Cabinet minister sighed: “Robert clearly still has his eyes on it [the leadership]. But what people like Robert need to realise is that quite often the people who are so overt, so obvious about their intentions – they don’t end up getting the top job.
“The absolutely last thing we can do is think about changing leader again. It would be terminal for the party.”
Tories fear another leadership contest
Fears about another leadership challenge run deep throughout the Conservatives, and the decision by backbench 1922 Committee chair Bob Blackman to raise the threshold by which Badenoch can be challenged has been welcomed.
But concerns remain that should Badenoch continue to struggle to cut through with the public, and an expected disappointing showing at next month’s local elections be followed by poor results in the Welsh and Scottish elections next year, then demands for a change of direction may prove overwhelming.
Jenrick remains the bookies’ – and backbenchers’ – favourite to mount a challenge should the opportunity arise.
But the claims that he wants to have been vehemently denied by Jenrick’s allies. Instead, MPs supportive of the 43-year-old believe the displeasure at his supposed leadership ambitions would be better aimed at the rest of Badenoch’s Cabinet, who have so far failed to hold the Government to account.
“Rob is one of the few frontbenchers actually landing blows on Labour. We need the rest of the shadow Cabinet to be as active as him. What are they doing all day?” asked one Tory MP.
Tory insiders have pointed the finger at several members of the shadow Cabinet, who they say have failed to land a glove on their Labour counterparts over the last six months, with particular anger aimed shadow Health Secretary Ed Argar, shadow Transport Secretary Gareth Bacon and shadow Foreign Secretary Priti Patel.
“The Tory party is facing an existential threat and what have they done?” one insider fumed.
‘Jenrick attack dog role can help Badenoch’
Another Conservative source insisted Jenrick’s role as Badenoch’s “attack dog” was helpful to the Tory leader and should not necessarily be viewed as a threat to her crown.
“She has her hands full trying to overhaul CCHQ so it can be a benefit that Robert is out doing what he is doing,” the source said.
An ally of Jenrick angrily rejected any suggestion that he harbours designs to usurp his leader.
“This is laughable nonsense,” the ally said. “Rob could have flounced off, but instead he chose to support Kemi in her shadow Cabinet and is working hard to hold Labour’s feet to the fire.”
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