Robert Jenrick: Tory attack dog or Badenoch's big problem?
Is omnipresent shadow justice secretary on leadership manoeuvres or energised by fight with Labour?

"Tory eyes" are being drawn, "not for the first time" to shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick, "one-time leadership rival" to Kemi Badenoch.
On the day this week that Badenoch ran through "her greatest hits" in a "set-piece speech attacking Labour's 'job tax'", the Tory grassroots on social media were clearly "more taken by Jenrick, as he tore into his opposite number, Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood, over the 'two-tier' Sentencing Council fiasco", said Richard Vaughan in The i Paper.
It was the latest of several "sharp performances" from Jenrick since losing the Tory leadership contest. And his "apparent omnipresence" has led to whispers within the party that the shadow justice secretary is, in Westminster parlance, "on manoeuvres".
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
'Unusually robust, no backing down'
Since the election, Jenrick has been "the most effective campaigner on the Tory benches", said Tom Jones in The Critic, "and not by a matter of inches, but miles". Being in opposition can be a "thankless task" but Jenrick can "actually point to successes" – not just on the two-tier justice issue but also in the "storm over grooming gangs", where he was "at the front", calling for gang leaders to receive whole-life sentences.
Some of the reasons for Jenrick's success are "easily discerned and easily replicable: intensity of effort, combined with media mastery". But the shadow cabinet could learn from his "unusually robust" and unapologetic delivery style that allows "little hand-wringing and certainly no backing down".
Indeed, while Team Kemi appears to be trying to "make a virtue out of silence", Jenrick has become "everything Kemi was elected to be," said Tim Stanley in The Telegraph. There's a lesson for us all there: "if you ever apply for a job and don't get it, just show up to work the next day and pretend that you did".
'An alternative leadership'
It might be more accurate to say that Jenrick is "running an alternative leadership", said Peter Franklin in UnHerd. In opposition, there's not much a "Tory boss" can do, other than "develop new ideas and communicate them" and, "on that front, he's leaving his colleagues in the dust".
The question for Badenoch now is what to do about it. "If she sacks him, she could precipitate her own downfall – or, more disastrously for the Tories, his defection to Reform UK". Instead, she could "confine him to his own brief" but, although all Tory MPs have already been told not to sound off on social media, "Jenrick won't be easily silenced". Her best course of action, then, is to promote him to deputy leader. Give Jenrick "the job and the mission of overhauling both policy and communications" and "make his successes her successes".
Jenrick probably does still want to be Tory leader, said Giles Dilnot on ConservativeHome but that, in itself, is not "the smoking gun" his critics might hope for. The answer to the question of what Jenrick is "really up to" is simple enough: he's "spoiling for a fight with Labour".
He is "energised" by targeting the government, isn't afraid to take on Reform, and is "cheerfully revelling" in being "the party's attack dog". But what the Conservatives really need is "the whole shadow-cabinet pack hunting efficiently".
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Sorcha Bradley is a writer at The Week and a regular on “The Week Unwrapped” podcast. She worked at The Week magazine for a year and a half before taking up her current role with the digital team, where she mostly covers UK current affairs and politics. Before joining The Week, Sorcha worked at slow-news start-up Tortoise Media. She has also written for Sky News, The Sunday Times, the London Evening Standard and Grazia magazine, among other publications. She has a master’s in newspaper journalism from City, University of London, where she specialised in political journalism.
-
Uruguay shaken by 'phantom cow' scam
Under the Radar Cattle seen as a safe investment in beef-mad nation – but the cows, and people's life savings, are nowhere to be found
-
Critics' choice: Steak houses that break from tradition
Feature Eight hours of slow-roasting prime rib, a 41-ounce steak, and a former Catholic school chapel turned steakhouse
-
Tash Aw's 6 favorite books about forbidden love
Feature The Malaysian novelist recommends works by James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, and more
-
'Gen Z has been priced out of a future, so we invest in the present'
instant opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Elon Musk says he's 'done enough' political spending. What does that really mean?
TODAY'S BIG QUESTION The world's richest man predicted he'd do 'a lot less' electoral financing moving forward. Has Washington seen the last of the tech titan?
-
'The national appetite has been waning'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
A running list of Trump's conflicts of interest
In Depth A potential Qatari plane is the latest in a series of problematic connections
-
Democrats grapple with Biden cover-up fallout ahead of 2028
IN THE SPOTLIGHT Even before his cancer diagnosis, Dems have been grappling with whether the White House's alleged effort to hide Biden's failing health is worth relitigating
-
Are we entering the post-Brexit era?
Today's Big Question Keir Starmer's 'big bet' with his EU reset deal is that 'nobody really cares' about Brexit any more
-
The horse racing industry is caught up in the migrant debate
Under the Radar At least 78% of the workers on race tracks are reportedly immigrants
-
Can Trump's team make the MAGA playbook work for Albania's elections?
TODAY'S BIG QUESTION The architects of the president's 2024 victory are looking east to extend their populist reach