Robert Jenrick appears on course to become leader of the Conservative party within a year of resigning from ministerial office in Rishi Sunak’s administration. That is a telling indicator of how far the Conservative regimes of the last parliament had strayed from the gut instincts of the Tory tribe.
Jenrick has been focused on victory for many months
The Newark MP is far from home and hosed in the contest and may yet be defeated by the force of Kemi Badenoch’s political personality, or the sheer ‘nice guy’ campaigning warmth of James Cleverly.
But the bookies now make him clear favourite to become Leader of the Opposition on 2 November after he topped the first round of the leadership contest. For Jenrick to be comfortably ahead of Kemi Badenoch, with 28 votes to her 22, represents a remarkable turnaround in their respective political fortunes.
Where she was the rising star in the contest of summer 2022, Jenrick is the candidate with momentum this time round, looking as hungry as she was two years ago.
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