Robert Jenrick compared to an 'arsonist in a firework shop' after 'absurd' Reform UK defection

Delivering his verdict on the defection, Mr Evans said: "It's been a heck of a week. I was a member of parliament for 32 years, and I've been in politics for way over 50 years.

"I joined the Tory party when I was 17, and I'm now aged an aged ex-politician, and I've never seen anything like this."

Comparing the latest Tory infighting to the Labour infighting between Sir Keir Starmer and Wes Streeting, Mr Evans added: "At least Wes Streeting was only trying to bring Keir Starmer down, we've got Robert Jenrick who tried to bring the entire Tory party down.

"I've never seen anything like it whatsoever. I was looking for the best analogy, and I think I can only liken Robert to an arsonist working in a firework factory, and he was just looking for the best place, the most effective place to throw the lit match."

Praising Mrs Badenoch for sacking Mr Jenrick, he told GB News: "And thank goodness Kemi took the action that she did. I mean, really, it's absolutely absurd. And of course Robert Jenrick has been on a political journey, because I remember him when he first entered Parliament, he was a little bit like a cardboard politician.

"Somebody right at the centre, really didn't stand for too much, and yet all of a sudden he is the firebrand who's now leading the charge to fix broken Britain. And of course, what he doesn't say is if Britain is broken, then of course he was in the Government at the time when that all really started to happen."

Criticising the Reform MP's press conference in announcing his defection, Mr Evans said: "His press conference was an absolute joy for me to listen to, I really couldn't believe a word that he says. And when he talks about trust, I mean, this is a man that sat around the shadow cabinet table literally a day or so before he intended to quit the Tory party and joined Reform.

"There he was, this is the man who told the chief whip, Rebecca Harris, when she confronted him, 'oh no, no, I've got absolutely no intention of joining Reform'. And that was on the day that he joined Reform.

"So it's always good to take lessons about trust from people like Robert Jenrick."

Asked by host Dawn Neesom if he agrees with Mrs Badenoch's point that Reform is a "party full of liars and traitors", he responded: "I think she's got more than a point, she's absolutely spot on. When Camilla Tominey asked Robert Jenrick did he intend to go to Reform, he said never. He didn't prevaricate, he just said no.

"And yet there he was already tapping in his poisonous quitting speech, which when he went on to give on the day that he was sacked from the shadow cabinet and booted out of the Tory party. So I guess you're absolutely right, Kemi says it straight.

"Anybody who's fed up with politicians saying one thing and meaning meaning another, at least with Kemi, we've got somebody who absolutely is saying it as straight as she possibly could."

He concluded: "And this is one of the reasons why, of course, she has said that she will find it impossible to do any deals with the party that's got the people like Robert Jenrick in there.

"How can anybody within Reform actually trust that man now?"

Speaking exclusively to GB News following his defection, Mr Jenrick claimed his former boss Mrs Badenoch would not be next in line for No10.

He said: "Kemi has as much chance of being our next Prime Minister as (Green Party leader) Zack Polanski. It's not going to happen.

"I don't mean that with any disrespect to her, but Kemi has as much chance of being our next Prime Minister as Zack Polanski.

"It's not going to happen. The choice is Starmer - or goodness knows who else - or Nigel. So everyone has to get behind Nigel."

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