Robert Jenrick: Things could get worse for Tories

The Conservative Party may not be at rock bottom and things could “undoubtedly” get worse, potential Conservative leadership contender Robert Jenrick has said.

The former home secretary told the BBC his party should “repent for some of the mistakes we have made, particularly on immigration”.

He said it was “possible” his party would be consigned to the dustbin of history.

He also accused some of his colleagues – including his potential rival for party leadership, James Cleverly – of not caring enough about illegal immigration.

Mr Jenrick survived his party’s defeat in the recent election by retaining his Newark constituency, albeit with a much reduced majority.

Earlier this month, the Conservatives suffered their worst election result in parliamentary history, losing 251 seats.

Asked whether his party would be consigned to the dustbin of history, he said it was “a possibility.”

“I don’t think we should consider the result we just suffered as our lowest point,” he said.

“If we don’t act now seriously and change the Conservative Party, things could undoubtedly get worse.”

Rishi Sunak has said he will step down as party leader but will remain in the role until arrangements are in place to choose his successor.

The 1922 executive committee, which represents Conservative MPs, will announce the process for selecting a new leader next week.

Mr Jenrick, who is on the right of the party, has been touted as a potential leadership candidate.

He did not rule out running to replace Mr Sunak, but said two weeks after the election was not the right time to talk about it.

Instead, he said there needed to be a “proper analysis of what went wrong.”

Mr Jenrick served as housing minister under Boris Johnson and in October 2022 was appointed immigration minister by Mr Sunak.

In December 2023, he dramatically resigned from his post in protest at Rwandan government legislation, which he said did not go “far enough”.

Recalling the weeks leading up to his resignation, he said it had become “painfully clear to me that this government… was simply not serious about tackling the problem (of illegal immigration)”.

Mr Jenrick said he was attending a meeting with senior ministers, including the then Home Secretary Mr Cleverly, to discuss the government’s plan to deter people from crossing the Channel in small boats by deporting some people to Rwanda.

The policy ran into trouble after the Supreme Court ruled it unlawful. The government considered overcoming those concerns by introducing a new bill that would declare Rwanda a safe country for asylum seekers, but Mr Jenrick said he did not think it would work.

“I was literally the only person in the room who said this wasn’t going to work…and when I left that meeting, I felt like everyone around that table knew this policy wasn’t going to work.

“No one else was willing to say it, and everyone else was just going to follow suit, because they didn’t care enough about the issue.”

He added that there were “few politicians who really see the consequences of illegal immigration.”

“It’s not their children who are being pushed down the waiting lists for social housing because of the arrival of migrants in this country. They are used to the consequences of legal and illegal immigration,” he said.

“It has become a secondary issue because there is a certain degree of snobbery that prevents politicians from talking about it.”

As prime minister, Mr Sunak had promised to stop small boats crossing the Channel.

However, even though the number of people making the dangerous crossing has decreased in 2023, this year’s figures are so far higher than those for the same period in the previous four years.

Previous Conservative prime ministers had also promised to reduce legal net migration – the difference between the number of people arriving in the UK and those leaving – to tens of thousands, but in 2022 it hit a record 764,000.

In 2023, net migration fell by more than 10% to 685,000 and could fall further due to changes in visa rules.

When the fall in figures was announced, the then Home Secretary, Mr Cleverly, said it showed the government’s plan was “working” and that he would not hesitate to “go further”.