‘A rattled clown sending the party into oblivion’: Week #2 of the general election campaign and things are still going about as well as many were expecting

The advances that were being made by Reform UK at the expense of Conservative Party votes was always a major concern in Downing Street. 

The fear of Reform shaped policy and direction, from immigration to its approach towards net zero strategy and an obsession with lower taxes, and it led many MPs down an increasingly dark path of discovery where their political identities were left mangled and disfigured as a result. 

One such Conservative was Newark MP Robert Jenrick.