Fenrick longs to be the leader but is cleverly biding his time

Robert Jenrick insists that he is happy where he is.

- JOHN RENTOUL CHIEF POLITICAL COMMENTATOR

I am told that he “genuinely” did not want to be shadow chancellor, and that he is “concentrating on the job at hand” as shadow justice secretary.

“That’s what Kemi [Badenoch] has asked him to do for her, and that’s what he has to focus on,” says an ally. Jenrick focuses on it effectively, finding the holy grail of “cut-through” for his recent video in which he accosted fare-dodgers and asked them if they would go back and pay.

That is just about in his justice department brief - but he is also known for ranging more widely in his social media communications. Pride of place in his X (I still call it Twitter) account is a two-minute video setting out his assessment of Keir Starmer’s first year, a “year of lies and decline”. It is the sort of thing a leader of the opposition might produce - if they were unwise enough to use the word “lies”.

Jenrick’s ambition is taken for granted across Westminster. At his summer reception for journalists at No 10 on Tuesday night, the prime minister joked about Jenrick’s imminent replacement of Kemi Badenoch.

Most senior Conservatives who are no longer MPs say the same three things privately. One, that they do not expect Badenoch to survive as leader through this parliament. Two, that they expect Jenrick to succeed her. And three, that they think he will do a deal with Nigel Farage to “unite the right” before the election.