Robert Jenrick has publicly accused Kemi Badenoch of telling “a pack of lies” about a recent meeting with the Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, launching a personal attack on his former boss.
The dispute centres on a conversation in Rome in which it is unclear whether Meloni urged Badenoch to “be her own woman” and to resist entering a deal with his party. Jenrick’s intervention appears intended to heap pressure on the Tory leader amid confusion about the precise content and implications of that exchange.
Jenrick’s remarks represent a sharp escalation in an internal Tory dispute, casting the disagreement in personal terms rather than as a policy difference. He characterised Badenoch’s account of the meeting as untruthful, using the phrase “a pack of lies” to describe her version of events.
The row underscores growing tensions within the party as senior figures publicly contest each other’s accounts of high-profile diplomatic encounters. With uncertainty over what was said in Rome, the exchange has fed wider questions about strategy and unity at a sensitive moment for the party’s leadership.
Observers said the public nature of the attack could complicate efforts to present a united front, while supporters of both figures may interpret the confrontation as part of a broader tussle for influence. The dispute is likely to continue to attract scrutiny until those directly involved clarify their versions of the meeting.