Leaked Jenrick defection plan calls him ‘the new sheriff in town’
Robert Jenrick was described as “the new sheriff in town” and the politician needed by Reform UK to give it experience and political “heft”, according to a leaked media plan for his defection prepared by his aides.The emergence of the document, which also describes Jenrick as “the most dynamic politician in the Conservative party”, came as Zia Yusuf, Reform’s head of policy, hailed the defection, after days of silence from one of Nigel Farage’s key aides.Allies of Jenrick said the document, obtained by Kemi Badenoch’s office and passed to newspapers, was not written by him.However, extracts of it, reported by the Sunday Times and Mail on Sunday, appear to show he had annotated it in his own handwriting.Jenrick, who was shadow justice secretary and came second to Badenoch in the battle to succeed Rishi Sunak as Tory leader, announced his defection to Reform on Thursday, after Badenoch learned of his plans and said he had been sacked and stripped of the party whip.
The Conservative leader learned of his plans after obtaining a copy of a speech Jenrick had prepared for his defection, with the media plan seemingly being obtained at the same time.“You’re the new sheriff in town, here to provide experience and political heft to Reform’s operation so the country can be fixed,” read one line of apparent advice to Jenrick.The six-page memo, which also gives ideas for responses to specific questions Jenrick might face after the defection, talked up the supposed significance of the decision by the Newark MP to move parties.“You’re the biggest defection story Reform has ever had (and likely ever will),” it told him.“The most popular Tory shadow cabinet member, leader in waiting if Kemi ever fails, and the most dynamic politician in the Conservative party.
”While it emerged that Jenrick had been talking to Farage for some months, not all Reform members welcomed yet another former Conservative, days after the arrival of the former Tory cabinet minister Nadhim Zahawi.Yusuf was the only senior Reform figure not at Thursday afternoon’s press conference with Jenrick, and he did not tweet about Jenrick’s move, instead repeatedly noting Reform’s deadline of 7 May for any other defections.But asked about the defection on Sunday, Yusuf told Sky News he was happy to see Jenrick arrive – while indicating he had not known about the plans in advance.Asked if he had any role in the negotiations, Yusuf said: “I had dinner with him on Thursday night, the day he defected.My assessment is that this is a man who is thoughtful, who is clear-eyed about all of the different ways the Tories betrayed this country, and wants to help Nigel, help me, help Richard [Tice] and everyone at Reform repair that damage.
“And I also think it’s crystal clear that him arriving at Reform makes it more likely that we win the next general election.”Reform has promised the defection of a “well known” figure from Labour, to be announced next week.Asked by the BBC whether it would be Kate Hoey, the former Labour MP who left the party more than seven years ago, Tice, Reform’s deputy leader, refused to say.Asked by Sky News if she was the person in question, Hoey seemingly dodged the question, saying she was not well known and was no longer in Labour.In Sunday’s newspapers, Jenrick and Badenoch continued their attacks on each other.
Jenrick told the Sun on Sunday that the Conservatives had become out of touch with ordinary voters.He said: “The divide in British politics has become Reform’s workers’ party versus the Tory posh party.”Badenoch in turn told the Telegraph: “I know what I believe.I know what I stand for.Robert has a pastiche of what he thinks the right wing is, and then he performs towards it.
It’s always been about his personal ambition.”
Royal Navy shipbuilder in limbo owing to cash shortage at Liberty Steel plant
A shipbuilder for the Royal Navy faces an uncertain wait for the steel to build three warships because of a shortage of cash at the Scottish steel mill that has won the contract.Liberty Steel Dalzell in Scotland has been unable to start production in earnest because there is “no cashflow to buy slab”, despite an order to supply 34,000 tonnes of metal plates to build fleet solid support (FSS) ships for the navy, according to two sources with knowledge of the situation.Sir David Murray, a Scottish metals magnate, said the UK government should step in, as it has done with other steelworks, to pressure Liberty Steel to pass over control of the plant. He has previously told the government he would be willing to step in and run the business.The cash shortage at Liberty is a sign of the continued financial troubles facing companies owned by the under-pressure metals tycoon Sanjeev Gupta
Davos 2026: the last-chance saloon to save the old world order?
“A Spirit of Dialogue”: the theme for this year’s World Economic Forum, the gathering of the global elite in the sparkling Alpine air of Davos, seems a heroic stretch, when star guest Donald Trump has spent the past year smashing up the world order.The president will touch down alongside the snowcapped Swiss mountains with the largest US delegation ever seen at the WEF, including the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, the treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, the commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, and the special envoy Steve Witkoff.Last year, just days after his second inauguration, Trump was beamed in to Davos on screen to deliver a punchy speech, in which he threatened across-the-board tariffs, urged Nato countries to raise defence spending, and called on the Federal Reserve to slash interest rates “immediately” – setting the tone, as it turned out, for a chaotic 12 months.A year on, what was left of the fraying rules-based global order, already jeopardised by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the rising power of the autocratic regime in Beijing, is rapidly unravelling, and the “spirit of dialogue” has been distinctly hard to find.This year’s meeting is taking place at a time of extraordinary geopolitical tumult
UK supermarkets go all out for ‘Jab-uary’ with food for those on weight-loss drugs
Veganuary and dry January are among the new year health kicks enthusiastically endorsed by supermarkets, but this year the buzz is around “Jab-uary” as pricey diet foods aimed at people on weight-loss drugs hit the shelves.Marks & Spencer, Morrisons, Asda, Ocado and the Co-op are among the big names targeting shoppers who use weight-loss injections, known as GLP-1 agonists, but better known by brand names such as Wegovy and Mounjaro.Ocado’s new virtual “weight management” aisle includes a “curated range of GLP-1-friendly products” that runs the gamut from tiny (100g) portions of steak costing £3.50 to a trendy “powdered greens” supplement, AG1, at £107 a pack.The online supermarket said it was seeing strong demand for protein-rich staples such as steak, chicken, cottage cheese, health drinks and vitamins and supplements
Shelling out? Easter eggs in the UK are smaller but pricier this year
Chocolate eggs are looking smaller than ever this year and it is not just because Easter is still so far away.Many of the Easter eggs already out on supermarket shelves this month not only cost more, but have been reduced in size or weight as the price of cocoa has driven a new wave of shrinkflation.Maltesers is living up to its “the lighter way to enjoy chocolate” slogan with its XL egg rather less large this year at 194g in many shops, down from 231g in 2025, while the price charged by Tesco has risen by £1 to £7.The weight loss is largely down to there being one fewer mini pack of Maltesers inside the box, according to trade journal the Grocer, meaning the price per gram is up 39% to 3.6p
‘The dollar is losing credibility’: why central banks are scrambling for gold
Fifteen minutes after takeoff, the call came for Serbia’s central bank governor: millions of dollars’ worth of gold bars, destined for a high-security Belgrade vault, had been left on the runway of a Swiss airport.In air freight – despite the extraordinary value of bullion – fresh flowers, food and other perishables still take priority. “We learned this the hard way,” Jorgovanka Tabaković told a conference late last year.Serbia’s is among a growing number of central banks to hastily amass vast stockpiles of gold, upending decades of conventional economic logic and fuelling an increase in the gold price amid mounting geopolitical tensions. As Washington challenges the US Federal Reserve’s independence, sending jitters through financial markets, the price soared to a record $4,643 (£3,463) an ounce this week, and analysts have tipped it to break $5,000 this year
Bank of England governor hits out at populism as Trump interferes in US Fed
The governor of the Bank of England has urged the world’s leading global institutions to fight back against the rise of populism, warning that it represents one of the biggest threats to improvements in living standards.In a thinly veiled response to Donald Trump’s attempts to interfere with the independence of the US Federal Reserve, Andrew Bailey said that he and the heads of other institutions had a duty to “challenge back” populist narratives.“Part of the purpose of international agencies is that from time to time they have to tell us what we don’t want to hear, let alone act upon,” he said. “Of course, they have to be accountable for the accuracy and quality of the assessment. But, accepting that, we have to call out messenger shooting
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