Senior Tory Robert Jenrick has defected to Reform UK after being sacked by Kemi Badenoch.
The former Conservative leadership hopeful was dramatically ousted as shadow justice secretary and suspended from the Tory party on Thursday morning.
Ms Badenoch said she had been presented with “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”.
There was instant speculation he was defecting to Reform, but he remained quiet until tweeting moments before a Thursday afternoon Nigel Farage news conference, just posting on X: “It’s time for the truth.”
Mr Farage then announced Mr Jenrick was defecting to Reform and welcomed him to the stage.
However, Mr Jenrick did not appear straight away and there were a few awkward minutes before he did.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.
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