Guido asked a simple question of Jenrick at his speech just now: “How do you respond to Farage’s claim that you have no personality?” Jenrick responded: There’s a reason he’s talking about me and not Badenoch…
“I think he’s rattled. Why is Nigel Farage speaking of me and not my opponent in this contest? Because he doesn’t want me to be leader of the Conservative Party. I might not be on the stage at the Reform Conference dancing to Frankie Valli and punching balloons but I’ve got a track record. I resigned on a matter of principle on the very issues that he has stood for… He knows that if I am leader of this party he will be in retirement and that all small C conservatives will return to our fold. That is what I offer, that’s why he doesn’t want me to be leader of this party, that’s why he wants my opponent to win.”
Strong words against Badenoch and straddling mockery of Nigel with an attempt to stress that they agree on policy. No attempt to claim that Robert does actually have a personality…
Jenrick’s message is clear: Farage wants Badenoch to win in his goal of destroying the Tories. Will it be enough to win over the members?
Badenoch’s team briefed yesterday that they were “slightly concerned at possible narrowing of the race… ConHome poll tomorrow rumoured to be positive for Jenrick.” At which point Deputy Editor Henry Hill made clear that he was the only one with the ability to see the score, and even he hadn’t checked it…
The final event in ConHome’s closely-watched leadership polling series has Kemi leading by 24 points at 55%. Jenrick sits on 31% and 14% say they don’t know. Kemi is up 4 points from the beginning of September, Jenrick is down 3. A decisive lead. The poll is of 828 members – the largest number so far…
Jenrick is giving a speech on foreign policy and defence this morning. He better hope it makes an impression…
Robert Jenrick is still on his media appearance campaign. On BBC Breakfast this morning he was asked if Michael Gove was right to say he looks too much like a “Tory boy.” Jenrick didn’t mince his words:
“Well, the last person I would take advice from in a leadership contest I think is Michael Gove… I don’t know what [Tory boy] really means… I didn’t come from a traditional conservative background. Neither of my parents were card carrying members of the Conservative Party… I don’t consider myself to be a ‘Tory boy.’ I want the Conservative Party to be the trade union of working people right across this country.”
A rebrand of the Tories as the ‘trade union of working people’ along Canadian lines doesn’t gel well with the Tory boy image. No yellow cards in this spat…
SW1 tuned into GB News last night for coverage of its Tory leadership event: Decision Time: The Race to Lead. Chris Hope compèred with questions from the audience aimed at the candidates. Badenoch won the room by the end…
Guido has had sight of the BARB figures for the night. At its peak GB News reached 152,600 viewers for its leadership event – remaining well above 100,000 throughout the two hours of coverage. Sky News had 80,600 and the BBC 70,400 concurrently. GB beat its two rivals’ combined figures…
GB has been leading broadcast coverage of the Tory leadership race. Hosting the only quasi-debate that the leadership camps have managed to agree to so far is a win…
It’s Badenoch’s turn now on GB News. A short pitch, then questions from members and Chris Hope…
Read live updates below:
Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick are set to be grilled by Christopher Hope and audience members on GB News’ Decision Time: The Race to Lead. After Hope tossed a coin, Jenrick is first up. It’s the first (and potentially only) televised leadership hustings before voting for Tory members closes on 31st October. Expect some fiery words from Jenrick on immigration and the ECHR. Guido will give you live updates below:
