Robert Jenrick, Reform’s ludicrously self-styled ‘shadow chancellor’, came under fire last month after he grossly misquoted Kemi Badenoch to suggest she didn’t care about white lives.
In the immediate aftermath of the sentencing of Henry Nowak’s killer, Jenrick posted on X: “Kemi Badenoch: ‘I don’t want to hear’ white lives matter. Keir Starmer: ‘There’s no such thing as two-tier policing’.
“Never have politicians been so out of touch with the people they’re paid to represent.”
The Tory turncoat’s post was a deliberate and misleading editing of what the woman who beat him the Conservative leadership had actually said. What Badenoch had told Good Morning Britain was: “I don’t want to hear about Black Lives Matter. I don’t want to hear about White Lives Matter. We all matter. Enough of this nonsense where we keep separating everybody and splitting people into different groups, we are descending into tribalism.
“I do not want that. It is why I say that we should be a multiracial country, not a multicultural country. Let’s have one shared culture, British culture.”
Despite the blatant editing, Jenrick defended posting it, saying: “She went onto the media and said ‘I don’t want to hear about white lives matter’. Well I do want to hear about white lives matter.” It remains on his X account.
Now he’s at it again. This week he reacted to the appointment of a new migration minister, Jo White, by posting on X: “Meet the new Immigration Minister. Burnham clearly doesn’t give a stuff about stopping the boats.
He illustrated this with a picture of White and the quote: “I don’t care if we stop the boats.”
Rats in a Sack readers will no doubt be flabbergasted to know this is not what White said at all – and this time Jenrick hadn’t just ended the sentence at a convenient point. What she had said to a meeting of her constituents in Bassetlaw, Nottinghamshire, was: “I don’t care who will stop the boats – my number one priority is to stop those boats”.
Suggested Reading
Farage’s hypocrisy over Louise Haigh
White has since posted a recording of her comments, which prove what she said, to constituents, saying: “Robert Jenrick is spreading a false account of what I said at a meeting with my constituents last year. This recording proves what I said. Reform have deliberately twisted my words to mislead the public. They should withdraw their false claim and immediately apologise.”
Jenrick has since deleted the post – unlike that attacking Badenoch – but he has refused to apologise. He told Talk’s Jeremy Kyle – a Reform supporter – that: “I made the, I thought, perfectly reasonable point of putting that out into the public domain and asking her to explain what is her actual position. Now, she says that the recording isn’t quite right, and that if you have a quality recording, she’s saying something different.”
Asked if he had made a mistake by putting it out, he said: “No, I don’t think so. But, look, I’m… I am prepared to give people the benefit of the doubt. I don’t know exactly what happened at this meeting because I wasn’t there.”
No. He could, of course, have actually listened to the recording before posting it – but that, of course, wouldn’t have suited his agenda.
Most popular
Farage’s speculation about Widdecombe’s murder could make it harder for justice to be done
Do you care that Burnham is a Catholic? You should
Deeply odd, deeply scary: My 48 hours with Truss, Farage and the new right
“Lisa Nandy thinks RADA is a knock-off brand in Wigan market’: It’s Sarah Vine’s guide to the Burnham Cabinet!
