Kemi puts the knife in first: Has sacking Jenrick made her stronger?
The News Agents
Global
4.1 • 5.4K Ratings
🗓️ 15 January 2026
⏱️ 33 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The politician who once complained of not seeing enough "white faces" in Birmingham probably had a very white one himself this morning.
Robert Jenrick's apparent imminent plot to defect to Reform was left in tatters when his party leader Kemi Badenoch uncovered the plan, sacked him and booted him out of the party, and announced it to the world on a polished video clip.
What happens now to the shadow justice secretary - as was - and to both the Tory party and Reform?
Emily and Lewis speak to theTory party anthropologist Paul Goodman.
The News Agents is brought to you by HSBC UK - https://www.hsbc.co.uk/
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | The Newsagents podcast is brought to you by HSBC UK Commercial Banking, opening up a world of opportunity. |
| 0:08.8 | This is a global player original podcast. This morning, I removed the Conservative whip from Robert |
| 0:15.8 | Jenrick after dismissing him from the shadow cabinet. I was very sorry to be presented with clear, |
| 0:23.1 | irrefutable evidence, not just that he was preparing to defect, but he was planning to do so |
| 0:28.8 | in the most damaging way possible to the Conservative Party and his shadow cabinet colleagues. |
| 0:34.9 | It is my responsibility to protect our party, and faced with that information, |
| 0:40.4 | I took the only decision that any responsible leader could, because the British public are tired |
| 0:47.0 | of political psychodrama. So am I. This is, without doubt, the most delicious political story of the week. |
| 0:58.4 | Kemi Badernock coming out on video to announce she has sacked, summarily dismissed her cabinet |
| 1:07.8 | colleague, Robert Jenrick, for disloyalty. |
| 1:11.6 | It's a sign of just how deep the fractures are |
| 1:15.5 | within the Conservative Party faced by the challenge of Nigel Farage's reform. |
| 1:21.8 | So is this the end of the Tory Party as we know it, |
| 1:25.7 | or Kemi Badernax great opportunity. Welcome to the news agents. |
| 1:35.3 | The Newsagents. It's John. It's Emily. And I have to be honest, I thought when I woke up this |
| 1:40.9 | morning, I had killed the news. The news has been nonstop. |
| 1:45.0 | You have had the most brilliant 10 days without me. |
| 1:48.0 | And this morning, it went flat as a pancake. |
| 1:50.7 | Nothing. |
| 1:51.1 | We've had a brilliant three weeks without you, in fairness. |
| 1:53.3 | You've had a fantastic time without me. |
| 1:55.7 | Thanks. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Global, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Global and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.