Robert Jenrick
Robert Jenrick | |
|---|---|
Official portrait, 2024 | |
| Reform UK Treasury Spokesperson | |
| Assumed office 17 February 2026 | |
| Leader | Nigel Farage |
| Minister of State for Immigration | |
| In office 25 October 2022 – 6 December 2023 | |
| Prime Minister | Rishi Sunak |
| Preceded by | Tom Pursglove |
| Succeeded by | Michael Tomlinson (Countering Illegal Migration) Tom Pursglove (Legal Migration and the Border) |
| Minister of State for Health | |
| In office 7 September 2022 – 25 October 2022 | |
| Prime Minister | Liz Truss |
| Preceded by | Gillian Keegan |
| Succeeded by | Helen Whately |
| Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government | |
| In office 24 July 2019 – 15 September 2021 | |
| Prime Minister | Boris Johnson |
| Preceded by | James Brokenshire |
| Succeeded by | Michael Gove |
| Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury | |
| In office 9 January 2018 – 24 July 2019 | |
| Prime Minister | Theresa May |
| Preceded by | Andrew Jones |
| Succeeded by | Simon Clarke |
| Member of Parliament for Newark | |
| Assumed office 5 June 2014 | |
| Preceded by | Patrick Mercer |
| Majority | 3,572 (6.7%) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Robert Edward Jenrick 9 January 1982 Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England |
| Party | Reform UK |
| Other political affiliations | Conservative (1997–2026) |
| Spouse |
Michal Berkner (m. 2009) |
| Children | 3 |
| Education | Wolverhampton Grammar School |
| Alma mater | St John's College, Cambridge (BA) University of Pennsylvania (MA) The College of Law (GDL) BPP University (LPC) |
| Occupation |
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| Website | robertjenrick |
Robert Edward Jenrick (born 9 January 1982) is a British politician who has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Newark since the 2014 by-election. Elected as a member of the Conservative Party, he joined Reform UK in January 2026.
He served in the Cabinet as Minister of State for Immigration from 2022 to 2023 in the Sunak ministry and as Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government from 2019 to 2021 in the first and second Johnson ministries. He also served as Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury from 2018 to 2019 in the second May ministry and as Minister of State for Health from September to October 2022 in the Truss ministry. In opposition, he served in the Badenoch shadow cabinet as Shadow Secretary of State for Justice and Shadow Lord Chancellor from 2024 until 2026.
Born in Wolverhampton, Jenrick attended St John's College, Cambridge, where he read history, followed by the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied political science. He then studied law, qualified as a solicitor, and practised corporate law with Skadden Arps and Sullivan & Cromwell in London and Moscow. He was elected as the MP for Newark at the 2014 by-election following the resignation of the Conservative Patrick Mercer after a cash-for-lobbying scandal. From 2015 to 2018 Jenrick was Parliamentary Private Secretary to Esther McVey, Michael Gove and Liz Truss, and Amber Rudd. He served as Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury under Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond from 2018 to 2019. In July 2019, Boris Johnson appointed Jenrick to be Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government; he held this position until he was dismissed in September 2021.
Jenrick returned to government in September 2022 as Minister of State for Health under Truss and was appointed to a cabinet attending role as Minister of State for Immigration by Rishi Sunak the following month. On 6 December 2023 Jenrick resigned from his position as Minister of State for Immigration over "strong disagreements" with the government's Rwanda asylum plan, arguing that it did not go far enough to tackle illegal immigration, and spent the remainder of Sunak's premiership on the backbenches. Following the Labour Party's victory in the 2024 general election, Jenrick launched a bid to become Leader of the Conservative Party, eventually coming second to Kemi Badenoch.
In January 2026 he defected to Reform UK. This was precipitated by Badenoch dismissing him from the Shadow Cabinet and suspending him from the party after it was alleged that he intended to defect. He subsequently became the party's Treasury Spokesperson in Nigel Farage's frontbench team.