How the right went wrong

“ROB RESIGNED,” ONE OF HIS former ministerial colleagues was keen to emphasise to me. “Most of us don’t. No one really wants to give up the private office and all the ego-enhancing rest of it. He did. It doesn’t matter how much calculation went into it, that was courage.” Such was the making of Rob Jenrick as a contender, but it didn’t in the end make him Tory leader. I’ve talked to members of his campaign team inside and outside parliament to see why those on the right of the party failed this time. On entering the House of Commons in a 2013 by-election, Jenrick showed no signs of dissent from leadership orthodoxy. A loyal Cameroon became a May loyalist and in due course, alongside Rishi Sunak and Oliver Dowden,…

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The Critic (Digital) - 1 Issue, December/January 2025

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