Jenrick accuses Tory leader Badenoch of lying about meeting with Meloni
Reform UK MP Robert Jenrick accused Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch of spreading a “pile of lies” about her meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Rome. The Guardian reports that the dispute arose over claims that Meloni allegedly advised Badenoch to be an “independent woman” and not make a deal with Reform UK.
Dispute over the meeting
A Conservative spokesperson said that the party had not claimed that the Italian prime minister made such comments. The Times had previously reported this, but later removed the relevant claim from its article.
Jenrick called the situation “very, very embarrassing” for Badenoch and said that one should not invent the words of a foreign leader after meeting them. He also described the head of his former party as someone living in “her own fantasy world”.
Badenoch met Meloni on Monday at a café in Rome, where they spoke for about an hour. Afterwards, the Conservative leader posted on X, praising Meloni’s approach to managing the Italian economy.
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Party responses
A spokesperson for Badenoch rejected Jenrick’s accusations. He said Reform UK was “making things up” and spreading “conspiracy theories” to distract attention. He also mentioned a £5 million gift that Reform UK leader Nigel Farage received from Thailand-based businessman Christopher Harborne.
This year, Jenrick defected from the Conservative Party to Reform UK after losing to Badenoch in the Conservatives’ leadership contest. At an event in London, he presented Reform UK proposals, including repealing the UK’s current data protection legislation, expanding tax relief for investors in small businesses, and scrapping the requirement to sell only new zero-emission cars and vans by 2035.
The Labour Party criticised Reform UK’s plan to replace GDPR with a “light-touch” privacy law modelled on New Zealand’s. Its spokesperson said Jenrick had not explained exactly which data protection safeguards he intended to remove or whether this would put people’s personal data at risk.
