Robert Jenrick
Robert Edward Jenrick is a British politician who served as Shadow Secretary of State for Justice and Shadow Lord Chancellor from 2024 until 2026. He served in the Cabinet as Minister of State for Immigration from 2022 to 2023 in the Sunak ministry and as Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government from 2019 to 2021 in the first and second Johnson ministries. He also served as Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury from 2018 to 2019 in the second May ministry and as Minister of State for Health from September to October 2022 in the Truss ministry. Jenrick was elected as a member of the Conservative Party, but had the whip removed and his party membership suspended, and joined Reform UK on 15 January 2026. He has served as the Member of Parliament for Newark since the 2014 by-election.
Born in Wolverhampton, Jenrick attended St John's College, Cambridge, where he read history, followed by the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied political science. He then studied law, qualified as a solicitor, and practised corporate law with Skadden Arps and Sullivan & Cromwell in London and Moscow. He was elected as the MP for Newark at the 2014 by-election following the resignation of the Conservative Patrick Mercer after a cash-for-lobbying scandal. From 2015 to 2018 Jenrick was Parliamentary Private Secretary to Esther McVey, Michael Gove and Liz Truss, and Amber Rudd. He served as Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury under Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond from 2018 to 2019. In July 2019, Boris Johnson appointed Jenrick to be Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government; he held this position until he was dismissed in September 2021.
Jenrick returned to government in September 2022 as Minister of State for Health under Truss and was appointed to a cabinet attending role as Minister of State for Immigration by Rishi Sunak the following month. On 6 December 2023 Jenrick resigned from his position as Minister of State for Immigration over "strong disagreements" with the government's Rwanda asylum plan, arguing that it did not go far enough to tackle illegal immigration, and spent the remainder of Sunak's premiership on the backbenches. Following the Labour Party's victory in the 2024 general election, Jenrick launched a bid to become Leader of the Conservative Party, eventually coming second to Kemi Badenoch.
On 15 January 2026, Jenrick defected to Reform UK. His defection was precipitated by Badenoch discovering his plans, dismissing him from the Shadow Cabinet and suspending him from the Conservative Party.
Early life and non-political career
Robert Edward Jenrick was born on 9 January 1982 in Wolverhampton. He grew up in Shifnal, Shropshire near the town of Telford. His father was the Finance Director of the English Electric Cooker Company and, later, the Managing Director of Cannon Industries.Jenrick was privately educated at Wolverhampton Grammar School before reading history at St John's College, Cambridge, graduating in 2003 with a First Class Bachelor of Arts degree. He obtained a Thouron Award to study political science at the University of Pennsylvania from 2003 to 2004. He subsequently studied law, gaining a Graduate Diploma in Law from The College of Law in 2005 and completing a legal practice course at BPP Law School in 2006.
Jenrick qualified as a solicitor in 2008 and practised corporate law with Skadden Arps and Sullivan & Cromwell in London and Moscow. He met his future wife, Michal Berkner, when they both practised at Skadden Arps.
Immediately prior to being elected to the House of Commons Jenrick was a director of Christie's, an auction house.
Parliamentary career
Early career
At the 2010 general election Jenrick contested Newcastle-under-Lyme for the Conservatives, but lost to the incumbent Labour Party MP Paul Farrelly by 1,582 votes.In November 2013 Jenrick was selected to contest the parliamentary constituency by-election for Newark, where the sitting Conservative MP, Patrick Mercer, had resigned following a cash-for-lobbying scandal. During the campaign Jenrick was criticised by the UK Independence Party's candidate, Roger Helmer, for owning several properties. Chris Grayling, the justice secretary, defended Jenrick, stating that being self-made and successful was nothing to be ashamed of. At the by-election, held on 5 June 2014, he won with a majority of 7,403.
In February 2016 Channel 4 News alleged overspending in Jenrick's by-election victory. Jenrick said he was confident his election expenses had been compiled in compliance with the law. Nottinghamshire Police took no action as too much time had passed since the alleged offence. In March 2017 the Electoral Commission released a report on their investigation into spending allegations at a number of elections. They concluded that the Conservative Party had contravened the spending rules three times and committed offences twice, and accordingly fined the party £70,000.
Shortly after his election, Jenrick was elected to the Health and Social Care Select Committee. In February 2015 he was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to the minister of state for employment at the Department for Work and Pensions, Esther McVey. Jenrick was returned at the 2015 general election with a majority of 18,474, or 57 per cent of the vote, the largest majority in the history of his constituency of Newark and the largest swing of any Conservative MP in that election. In May 2015 he was appointed PPS to the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, Michael Gove, and continued to fulfil the role under Gove's successor, Liz Truss, from July 2016. Jenrick was opposed to Brexit prior to the 2016 UK referendum. Jenrick has been Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on International Trade & Investment and Vice Chairman of the Groups on China and France.
At the snap 2017 general election Jenrick was again returned, increasing his vote share to 62.7 per cent while his majority dipped to 18,149. Afterwards he was appointed PPS to Home Secretary Amber Rudd. As Chairman of the APPG for the Prevention of Genocide and Crimes against Humanity, Jenrick, along with Rudd, met Nadia Murad, an Iraqi Yazidi human rights activist who in 2018 was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, to discuss how the UK could help with the reconstruction of Yazidi areas. In July 2017 Jenrick was elected by his fellow-MPs to be their representative on the Board of the Conservative Party. He was appointed Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury by Prime Minister Theresa May in her reshuffle of January 2018. In June 2019 he represented the British Government at the Israel-Palestine peace initiative, led by Jared Kushner.
Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (2019–2021)
After Boris Johnson became prime minister following the 2019 Conservative leadership election, Jenrick was appointed Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government on 24 July 2019, becoming the youngest member of Johnson's Cabinet.On 26 July 2019 Jenrick, whose wife and children are Jewish, said, "I want tackling antisemitism and ensuring that the Jewish community feels protected and respected to be one of my priorities as Secretary of State." In September 2019 he said, "I will use my position as Secretary of State to write to all universities and local authorities to insist that they adopt the IHRA definition at the earliest opportunity... and use it when considering matters such as disciplinary procedures. Failure to act in this regard is unacceptable."
At the 2019 general election, Jenrick was again returned, increasing his share of the vote to 63.3 per cent and increasing his majority to 21,816. In January 2020 he spoke at the Conservative Friends of Israel parliamentary reception and told the audience that he would "look forward to the day" when Britain's embassy in Israel will be "moved to Jerusalem", adding that "as Housing Secretary I don't like land-banking. I want us to build that embassy." The government had not indicated it would move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, as the United States did in 2018. The Palestine Solidarity Campaign called on Johnson to dismiss Jenrick, adding "no minister who openly advocates for law-breaking is fit to serve in Government".
His response to the national crisis with respect to housing safety following the Grenfell Tower fire was criticised as demonstrating a misunderstanding of the issue. His approach, which was said to include "naming and shaming", was seen by some as lacking robustness and ineffective. Jenrick was criticised as having failed to deliver on promises and take concrete action. There were over ten significant, life-threatening fires after Grenfell, including the Bolton Cube fire. Thousands of affected residents continued to face financial burdens and their lives remained at risk. This stood in contrast to the more effective measures put in place by the Australian Government to keep its citizens safe.
In February 2020, in a survey of leaseholders from 117 housing developments by the Leasehold Knowledge Partnership, a charity that supports leaseholders, 90 per cent of respondents said the government's response to the "cladding crisis" had been "no help at all". In October 2020 it was estimated that 700,000 people were still living in flats wrapped in flammable materials, and 3.6 million had fire-related defects and faced a wait of 10 years before they could sell their flat or get a new mortgage.
In April 2020 The Sunday Times reported Jenrick had charged taxpayers more than £100,000 for "a third home" in his constituency of Newark which he appeared to use only rarely. In November 2020 the Public Accounts Committee concluded that Jenrick's constituency had been awarded funding by his department as part of a process that was opaque and not impartial.
Travel during COVID-19 pandemic
During the COVID-19 pandemic in April 2020, after Jenrick repeatedly urged the public at televised press briefings to stay at home during the government-imposed lockdown to curb the spread of COVID-19, the Daily Mail alleged on 10 April that he had twice not followed government restrictions after they were announced.The first event was travelling 150 miles from London to a second home in Herefordshire, Eye Manor, where he was now living with his family. Jenrick's primary residence was his townhouse in Central London, where his wife worked and his three children attended school. Jenrick defended this, reiterating he was travelling to his family home, where his family were before any restrictions on travel were announced.
The second event was travelling 40 miles to see his parents near Shrewsbury in Shropshire. He defended this, stating his parents had asked him to deliver some essentials, including medicines, and he had not entered the house. This position was supported by the emeritus director of Public Health England. Previously, on 22 March 2020, he had written an article for The Mail on Sunday arguing that rather than relatives travelling, local communities should help out.
Senior MPs called for Jenrick to consider his position, given his high-profile role in Downing Street's campaign to keep the British public inside during the outbreak, including the ban on travelling to second homes. He was accused by Anna Soubry of "selfish arrogance".