{"id":144998,"date":"2025-06-04T07:52:06","date_gmt":"2025-06-04T06:52:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.politics.co.uk\/?p=144998"},"modified":"2025-06-06T07:27:55","modified_gmt":"2025-06-06T06:27:55","slug":"robert-jenrick-the-conservative-who-gets-opposition-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politics.co.uk\/news-feature\/2025\/06\/04\/robert-jenrick-the-conservative-who-gets-opposition-politics\/","title":{"rendered":"Robert Jenrick: the Conservative who gets opposition politics"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Another week, another to-camera video courtesy of Robert Jenrick. Last week, the onetime Conservative leadership candidate\u2019s agenda-setting vigilantism, as he intercepted \u201cfare dodgers\u201d on the London Underground, was a remarkable success. By whatever measure \u2014 social media clicks, column inches, broadcast commentary \u2014 Jenrick chalked up a genuine win. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lively broadside was the logical extension of the shadow justice secretary\u2019s activism this parliament. Jenrick returned to the House of Commons<\/a> in July last year with a singular vision: securing the mantle of Conservative leader. He was bested by Kemi Badenoch<\/a>. But while the campaign has long since ceased, Jenrick\u2019s campaigning has not. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like any ambitious also-ran, the setback served as a catalyst. In recent months, Jenrick has honed his political style and evinced a capacity to \u201ccut-through\u201d well beyond the next spikiest Tory. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The role of shadow justice secretary, assigned to him by Badenoch in November, does not confer upon Jenrick any right to such salience. His colleagues across similar middle-ranking posts are a testament to how opposition figures can dissolve into irrelevance. From Gareth Bacon at transport to Edward Argar at health, the shadow cabinet is a veritable who\u2019s who<\/i> of \u201cwho\u2019s that?\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In part, Jenrick has vaulted the low bar set by his fellow frontbenchers by stepping beyond the strictures of his brief \u2014 a fact that in and of itself reflects his enduring ambition. His portfolio of pieces for the Telegraph<\/i> newspaper is an extensive, and growing, case in point. The shadow justice secretary\u2019s comprehensive output surpasses most regular columnists. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But less considered is the way Jenrick has seized on those issues that, aided by a sometimes expansive interpretation, do justify attention from the shadow lord chancellor. He won headlines earlier this year for his criticism of new sentencing council guidelines as \u201ctwo-tier\u201d; this week, his call for prison officers to have access to firearms secured wide coverage. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Consider Jenrick\u2019s \u201cfare dodgers\u201d video in these terms. There is no stipulation in the shadow justice role that compels its incumbent to rampage around some unsuspecting tube station. Critics have duly hounded Jenrick for the stunt, which they decry as performative and callous. But his extended tour of the broadcast studios since suggests Jenrick is confident in the counter-argument: why shouldn\u2019t a senior politician concerned with crime and justice concern himself with widely perceived rule-flouting? <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Critics reject the message and abhor the messenger. But the means by which the message was delivered \u2014 politically, strategically \u2014 is sound. Jenrick\u2019s opponents misunderstand the raw potency of his strategy at their own peril. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the success of his \u201cfare dodgers\u201d video, Jenrick has established a model: a tried and tested formula for securing social media kudos and cut-through beyond. That brings us to his latest contribution. This time, the shadow justice secretary\u2019s targets are not blurry-faced \u201cfare dodgers\u201d and still fuzzier nods to societal ills, but the government\u2019s chief legal adviser, attorney general Lord Hermer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like Jenrick, Hermer is a conspicuous presence in our political discourse. Unlike Jenrick, his prominence does not reflect a canny, long-term strategy \u2014 but his profile, which seems almost uniquely designed to rile Westminster\u2019s right-wing ecosystem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The attorney general\u2019s record of clients reads as a Tory rogues\u2019 gallery. In his latest video, Jenrick lists those most likely to wound the Telegraph<\/i>-reading conscience: \u201cGerry Adams; not one, not two, not three, not four, but five terrorists linked to Al-Qaeda, including two of Osama Bin Laden\u2019s lieutenants, one linked to 9\/11 and one to 21\/7; the mother of an ISIS Beatle; Shamima Begum; Caribbean nations demanding reparations; and a 26-year-old Eritrean man in Britain illegally who was claiming to be 16.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The shadow justice secretary adds: \u201cIf someone wants to spend their life defending Britain\u2019s enemies, that\u2019s on them and their conscience. But that someone shouldn\u2019t be chosen to be our attorney general.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Gerry Adams. Shamima Begum. Osama bin Laden\u2019s right-hand man.

Lord Hermer has spent much of his life defending those who hate Britain.

Why on earth did Starmer hand-pick him to be Attorney General? pic.twitter.com\/UKhoNfyWxl<\/a><\/p>— Robert Jenrick (@RobertJenrick) June 3, 2025<\/a><\/blockquote>