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Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick has launched a scathing attack on the judiciary, saying he would fire “activist” judges and hand the power to appoint judges to politicians if the Conservatives return to power.
Jenrick, who is widely seen as a potential challenger to Kemi Badenoch for the leadership of the Conservatives, told the party’s conference in Manchester that the justice secretary should have the power to appoint judges, which critics claim would create a system more akin to the US.
In his speech to the conference on Tuesday, Jenrick hailed a “new order” in UK politics where “the British people are fighting back”.
“The collapse of the old order is in sight,” Jenrick told the gathering. “A new one is coming because the British people are fighting back and, conference, there’s absolutely nothing that Labour can do to stop them.”
The shadow justice minister’s speech was keenly awaited by Tory delegates as he has become the clear favourite to replace Badenoch unless she can find a way to turn the struggling party’s fortunes around.
In the last two years he has pivoted to a hardline stance on immigration, and has grown his profile through a series of viral social media videos tackling some of the UK’s supposed ills, positioning himself as a challenger that can fight Nigel Farage’s populist Reform UK party.
But his approach on immigration and assimilation of minorities into wider UK society has left some in the party uneasy, fearing he is flirting with territory further to the right of the Conservative party’s traditional position.
Earlier on Tuesday Jenrick was forced to defend remarks he made about the Handsworth area of Birmingham, after the Guardian published a recording of him saying in March that he had not seen “another white face” and that it was the “closest I’ve come to a slum” in the UK.
He had taken a trip to Handsworth, an inner-city area of Birmingham where the 2021 census showed more than 60 per cent of the population was Asian and just under 9 per cent was white, to make a social media clip about litter.
While Badenoch defended his comments, and Jenrick argued he made clear he was not talking about “skin colour or your faith” but calling for better integration in the UK, one senior Tory MP was highly critical of his language, telling the Financial Times he had “crossed the line of decency”.
Jenrick said in a statement that “six separate government reports over 20 years” had “highlighted the problem of parallel communities”.
In his conference speech Jenrick said that “activist” judges would lose their positions under a Conservative government if they were seen supporting causes that might bring their impartiality into question.
Former justice of the Supreme Court, Lord Jonathan Sumption, told the BBC that Jenrick’s plans were a “serious mistake”.
“In the United States the Supreme Court has become subservient to the President and enabled him to behave like an autocrat,” Sumption said.
During the speech Jenrick at times attempted to present a lighter persona to the party members, warming up with a series of jokes including poking fun at former Conservative Prime Minister Liz Truss and even deploying props including a judge’s wig.
Tory party officials said Jenrick’s speech was designed not to look like a direct challenge to Badenoch, who he has said would lead the party into the next election.
But he also tried to rally the conference with a more upbeat view of the UK’s future — and the party’s — which had all the hallmarks of a pitch to members on his potential to lead.
“Are we going to dig deep and fight like never before?” Jenrick asked the audience, to cries of “yes!”
“How long will our battle last? As long as it takes. Because Britain, for all its present flaws, is too precious to lose.”
At a packed fringe event on Monday, Jenrick said the party needed to “change, change, change”.
Jenrick drew applause at the fringe event for saying he thought it was a “fucking disgrace” that there might be pro-Palestinian protests — which he dubbed “hate marches” — on university campuses on October 7, the second anniversary of Hamas’s attack on Israel.
Protests against Israel’s conduct in the resulting war, which has led to famine and turned swaths of Gaza into a rubble-strewn wasteland, have been regular events in the UK, but have faced criticism for incidents of antisemitism.
Party rivals do not expect Jenrick to make an immediate move to challenge Badenoch’s leadership, but they talk openly of his position as the frontrunner to replace her.
“There’s an atmosphere of open sedition,” said one former cabinet minister.
Most see the crunch moment for Badenoch as next May’s Scottish, Welsh and local elections, where polls suggest the party faces large losses.
Additional reporting by Valentina Romei in London
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