Can Robert Jenrick “Unite The Right”?

Newscast

BBC

News, Daily News, Politics

4.3 • 6.6K Ratings

🗓️ 16 January 2026

⏱️ 24 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Adam and Laura are joined by BBC political correspondent Joe Pike to break down Laura’s interview with Robert Jenrick.

They discuss why he says he picked country over party and if his move could unite the right or divide it further.

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New episodes released every day. If you're in the UK, for more News and Current Affairs podcasts from the BBC, listen on BBC Sounds: https://bbc.in/4guXgXd Newscast brings you daily analysis of the latest political news stories from the BBC. The presenter was Adam Fleming. It was made by Anna Harris with Chloe Scannapieco and Jem Westgate. The social producer was Beth Pritchard. The technical producer was Mike Regaard. The assistant editor is Chris Gray. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts.
0:05.7	Hello, here is your second helping of newscast for Friday the 16th of January.
0:10.0	Earlier in the feed, we plonked down Laura's exclusive interview with Robert Jenrick,
0:14.5	The Defector, from the Conservatives to Reform.
0:16.9	Now you will hear some analysis of what that interview means and also just what on earth
0:22.1	is going on in British politics on this episode of Newscast. Newscast from the BBC. Fat boy
0:28.7	sliver me in the classroom doing our violin lessons. I was the tattletail in the class.
0:32.6	Can I have an apology please? I trust almost nobody.
0:35.6	That daddy has to sometimes do strong language.
0:38.3	Next time in Moscow.
0:39.3	I feel delulu with no salulu.
0:41.3	Take me down to Downey Street. Let's go have a tour.
0:44.3	Blimey.
0:45.3	Hello, it's Adam in the Newscast Studio.
0:47.3	And it's Laura in the Westminster Studio.
0:50.3	And it's Joe Pike in New Broadcasting House.
0:52.3	Laura, I'm out of practice of you being in a cupboard at Westminster and not in the room with me. I know. Me too. It feels like very retro, but quite fun all the same. Yes. So we played the interview you did with Robert Jenrick earlier in the newscast feed. So if people want to listen to the whole thing, it is there. Give me your kind of big initial thoughts, kind of after you walked out the room. One, he's absolutely deadly serious about what he's done, which if you followed Robert Generic for years, that's not surprising. He's a very, very serious politician, even though some people would mock him. Some people admire him, but some people mock him for doing things like, you know, chasing fair dodgers on the tube. So he's deadly serious about this. Two, there is now undergoing a poisonous, really poisonous row between him and his supporters
1:36.0	and the Tories he's just left behind. But in the medium term, I think this is, it's a really big deal.
1:43.3	I think it's the biggest defection so far. I think it's the one
1:45.7	that matters most for all sorts of reasons. He's not a former. He's still in Parliament. He knows how to
1:51.4	operate Parliament. He knows how to grab the mic. He knows how to get attention. And he's a very
1:56.0	cany political operator. So I suppose my main big thought after it is this is genuinely a big deal.
	...

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