‘I’m not sure Jenrick telling Kate McCann to check her head is the best defence against suggestions he is dismissive of female journalists.’
Robert Jenrick told a female journalist that she needs her “head checking” after she questioned his attitude towards women.
Jenrick, who became Reform’s seventh MP after defecting from the Tories on Thursday, told Times Radio journalist Kate McCann she was making a “completely nonsensical argument”.
McCann pointed out that Jenrick had directly criticised three female Tory politicians, Kemi Badenoch, Priti Patel and Liz Truss in his defection speech.
Jenrick responded: “What’s that got to do with anything? Sorry but that’s a completely nonsensical argument. I also mentioned Mel Stride in my speech the other day.”
The Times journalist also questioned why Jenrick had mispronounced Badenoch’s name in a way that he knows annoys the Conservative leader.
Jenrick was dismissive of McCann, stating: “I honestly have no idea what you’re talking about. If you Kate, think, this is important then you need your head checking.”
The former Tory shadow justice secretary said that “what matters here is the state of the country”, adding that the county is in “a real mess”.
The radio journalist added: “And I think people really are concerned with how their leaders portray themselves and their party in public. And many people watching your press conference suggested it looked quite blokey. It was quite dismissive of female journalists and female politicians.”
She added: “You repeatedly called your former leader Kemi BAD-e noch not BAY-de-noch, when you know that’s not how you say her name.”
Looking rattled, Jenrick said: “Honestly Kate, I’ve no idea what you’re talking about. I don’t have any memory of that.”
McCann responded: “I think most women will know.”
The Reform defector then said: “It’s complete nonsense. And if you’re trying to suggest that somehow I don’t respect women as a husband, as a father of three daughters, I actually find that extremely offensive. And so please, let’s talk about something that matters to the public here, which is how are we going to fix the country?”.
On social media, one X user said: “I’m not sure Jenrick telling @KateEMcCann to check her head is the best defence against suggestions he is dismissive of female journalists.”
In an exchange with Telegraph journalist Camilla Tominey last Thursday, she challenged Jenrick on why he told her in a text over the weekend that he would ‘never’ defect to Reform, before doing exactly that six days later.
Tominey put it to Jenrick that he had been “lying” and that “the accusation that you’re untrustworthy may be true”.
Jenrick gave a dismissive response, stating: “I’m very sorry to disabuse you since I thought you were a very experienced journalist since politicians don’t have to reply to all the text messages that they get sent.”
The Telegraph journalist responded: “But you did reply, and you said ‘never’.”
Tominey later published the recent WhatsApp messages she exchanged with Jenrick on her X account, in which he confirmed her would ‘never’ defect to Reform.
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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