𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

When Robert Jenrick met with his new Reform UK comrades on Thursday evening, shortly after he declared his allegiance to Nigel Farage’s party, he will have faced a blitz of excited questions. What is Kemi Badenoch’s strategy for the May elections? Who are the most likely Tory MPs to defect next? When is the next big policy announcement? What scandal is just waiting to break?

In Cold War terms, this is like a Kremlin superstar ringing the doorbell of MI6 and asking to be let in – or vice versa. Mr Jenrick will give his new party the lowdown on how the Conservatives plan to neutralise Reform and beat Labour at the next election.

More than that, Reform has just gained one of the ablest political campaigners of the digital age. His online video about why the handover of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius is a perfidious and pointless betrayal of British interests is a masterpiece of internet storytelling; the footage of him confronting fare dodgers on the London Underground is the stuff of legend – and now his seemingly inextinguishable energies will be focused on getting Reform into Government.

Reform has not just gained an extra MP. It has had a rocket booster attached.

Mr Jenrick will be desperate to demonstrate to the country and future historians that he was right to abandon the Conservative party. He can only do this if Reform becomes a party of Government.

It will not be good enough if Reform ends up a Right-wing version of the Liberal Democrats, occupying a swathe of the Commons and waiting decades for the chance to prop up a bigger party in Government. He wants to take hold of Britain’s levers of power.

The 44-year-old is not along for the ride. He is not a Right-winger who fancied dabbling in politics; he has gone from being Shadow Justice Secretary to sitting in a group of just six MPs, and nothing less than a prime office in Whitehall will make this worthwhile.

This is a turning point for Reform. It is harder for its foes to dismiss it as a one-man band when one of the most ambitious Tories of our times has joined its team.

Mr Jenrick may be a maverick, but he is no amateur; his presence – and that of his highly experienced aides – can only boost the start-up party’s professionalism.

As a frontbench campaigner, he gave his Conservative colleagues a glimpse of what it would be like if he were running the show. Mr Farage must now decide where he wants Mr Jenrick to direct his phenomenal energies, and how to manage the growing number of big personalities at the heart of the party.

Already, bookies are offering odds on who will succeed Mr Farage. Just as US Republicans vie for President Trump’s blessing, the brightest talents in Reform will compete to be seen as the heir apparent.

Just as intense will be the competition to shape Reform’s manifesto, which must be nothing less than a programme for government. As Reform grows and the possibility of power draws closer, the Left and Right wings of the party will become more distinct.

Rank and file members who believe Britain is “broken” will hope for public investment to rescue their local hospital and wretched bus services; former Tories with painful memories of the chaos which doomed Liz Truss’s time at Number 10 will stress the need to put the public finances on a sound footing to avoid the cataclysm of a run on the pound if they take office.

Mr Jenrick, who served in the May, Johnson, Truss and Sunak administrations, will be at the heart of these debates. He will be able to give invaluable counsel on how the Government really works, and the obstacles a Reform premiership will have to navigate in Parliament, the Civil Service and the courts.

Activists who have longed to see Mr Farage in Downing Street since his Ukip days may be uneasy at the influence of so many ex-Conservatives in key positions, perhaps fearing a quiet takeover is under way. Former leading lights in Right-wing Tory groupings such as the New Conservatives and the Blue Collar Conservatives have found a new home in the teal tribe, and more could be on the way.

Such anxieties should be swept away if Reform delivers on its election-winning promise in the May elections and then in the Westminster contest expected in 2029.

The challenge for Kemi Badenoch is to demonstrate she is better off without Mr Jenrick on her team. She now has a tighter grip on the party and no longer has to force a smile when she sees her old leadership rival.

His former Cabinet colleagues – particularly those whom he attacked personally on Thursday – have a new incentive to vanquish Reform and crush his ambitions. This battle is now deeply personal, and the outcome could shape British politics for generations.

Mr Jenrick is famed for his stratospheric ambition, but Mrs Badenoch will make it her mission to bring him crashing back to earth.