The speech made by Robert Jenrick, the Shadow Justice Secretary, in Manchester on 7 October 2025.
Hello Conference,
It’s great to see you all today.
Isn’t Donna brilliant?
Conference, we are going to get Donna elected as the first Mayor of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.
Forget the King of the North; we’re going to have a Queen of the South.
And it’s going to be Donna Jones!
Now, I want to talk to you today about how four famous blondes tell the story of the predicament our party faces today and how we’re going to overcome it.
Because right now, it’s true: it’s tough being a Tory.
Six months ago, the Tory legend Sir Michael Fabricant went on the Big Brother House.
He lasted four days.
Last week, one of our most energetic young campaigners, Emily Hewertson, entered the Big Brother House.
She lasted just 11 hours.
She didn’t even get to spend the night.
And now, Conference, I’ve heard that a third Tory blonde is in negotiations to enter the Big Brother House: Liz Truss.
But negotiations have broken down, Conference.
She’s asking to be paid by the minute. Too soon, perhaps?
Look, I’ll come back to the blondes in a moment. But, Conference, it’s not all doom and gloom right now.
Last month, I received some good news, courtesy, surprisingly, of Angela Rayner.
Keir Starmer’s emergency reshuffle, otherwise known as, remember, Phase 2. Anyone recall that? Well, I think Keir Starmer would like to forget it too. Anyway, it led to a great privilege for me.
I now shadow a new Justice Secretary: David Lammy.
Now, David has a somewhat chequered past.
You may recall his appearance on the BBC’s Celebrity Mastermind.
David Lammy. Celebrity Mastermind.
You don’t need to be a lawyer to know that was a violation of the Trade Descriptions Act.
He was asked, “Which famous blue cheese is paired with port?”
He replied, “Red Leicester.”
It gets worse.
“Which Marie won the Nobel Prize for Physics?”
He responded instantly, “Marie Antoinette.”
And my personal favourite:
“Which monarch succeeded Henry VIII?”
His answer? Henry VII.
Now, just to clarify, Henry VII preceded Henry VIII, not the other way around.
I’m not sure Mastermind was the show for David.
Perhaps he could try Pointless.
He’d work as either a contestant or an answer.
But in all seriousness, it’s great to be here in the proud, historic city of Manchester.
A city that has given our country so much but which has also suffered great tragedy.
Most recently, last week, when Heaton Park synagogue was attacked.
It was an attack on us all.
Thoughts and prayers? Yes, absolutely.
But I don’t know about you; I’m fed up with platitudes. We’ve had enough of those, haven’t we? I believe in justice and action.
While other parties have waxed and waned, I am so proud that our party, the Conservative Party, has always stood with our Jewish community.
And under Kemi’s leadership, I know we always will.
Because, Conference, a Britain where our British Jewish friends are afraid is just not Britain. And we will never stand for it.
Next year marks the thirtieth anniversary of another devastating attack in Manchester.
The IRA unleashed the biggest bomb to explode in England since the Second World War.
In more recent times, long after the Troubles ended, IRA members used so-called human rights laws to sue the British government for compensation while dragging our soldiers through the courts.
To stop this injustice, the last Conservative government passed the Legacy Act.
We took the side of our brave servicemen, the side of the victims, and above all, the side of the decent people of Britain.
We refused to give in, and that’s something everyone in this room should be truly proud of.
Now, I had a moral reason to back that bill, but also a personal one.
Like most Saturdays, my nan and grandad, Ivy and Sid, were here in Manchester city centre when that bomb went off.
We heard about it back home on the radio and had an anxious couple of hours while we waited.
Until finally, we heard that my grandparents had arrived home safely and were unharmed.
Fast forward to today, and elderly veterans who risked their lives to protect us from terrorists like those who bombed this city face spending their final days being dragged through the courts.
Why? Because Labour wants to repeal our Legacy Act.
It is shameful. Let that sink in.
The last generation’s heroes, betrayed by this generation’s sellouts.
It’s not right. It’s not justice.
And, Conference, never on our watch.
Now, we all knew Keir Starmer would be a bad Prime Minister.
But I don’t think anyone anticipated he would be this bad.
He’s combined the management style of David Brent with the administrative grip of Blackadder’s Baldrick.
He’s proven himself to be a freebie-grabbing, free speech-stifling, criminal-releasing, tax-raising, farmer-hating, Brexit-betraying, aspiration-sapping, sorry excuse for a leader.
And, Conference, this is someone who makes a hole in the air look substantial, Peter Mandelson appears trustworthy, and Mr Bean seems a model of competence and grip.
Despite all this, and this might surprise you, I think we have reason to be optimistic.
Because in the ways that matter most profoundly, the fantasists masquerading as experts are seeing their myths busted.
The people got it right while they got it wrong.
Wrong on mass migration.
Wrong on free speech.
Wrong on net zero.
Wrong on two-tier justice.
Make no mistake.
The old order is collapsing, and a new one is coming.
For too long, the chattering classes drowned out the voice of the people.
Our job, Conference, is to ensure that the people’s will prevails.
But it won’t be easy.
Because right now, the gap between the government and the governed is wider than ever before.
And, ladies and gentlemen, let me give you just one example of that great gulf: the Attorney General, Richard Hermer.
Like one of those infamous mafia lawyers of yesteryear, Hermer always chose a particular type of client: Shamima Begum, Osama bin Laden’s right-hand man, terrorists involved in 7/7.
Since taking office, we’re told Lord Hermer’s advice to Starmer and his cronies has been to give away the Chagos Islands to an ally of China and to pay billions of pounds for the privilege. In each of these incidents, he’s wasted no time establishing himself as a useful idiot for our enemies.
His rise symbolises the central truth of Keir Starmer’s government.
Labour is just not on Britain’s side.
Why on earth would Britain’s Attorney General change the law to enable our country’s enemies to sue the very government he represents?
Well, it makes more sense when you realise another of Lord Hermer’s former clients was, you guessed it, Gerry Adams.
Not long ago, a man with his past would have had no place in mainstream politics.
Now he sits at the cabinet table and influences decisions about our country, the same cabinet table the IRA tried to blow up in 1991.
Shame on him and shame on the man who appointed him.
Last week, at Labour Conference, Labour lined up to attack me for scrutinising judges for mind-bogglingly absurd judgments, like the Albanian criminal who avoided deportation because his son didn’t like the taste of foreign chicken nuggets in Albania.
Labour just don’t get it. They really don’t.
Now, you might be wondering what I have in this box.
Well, don’t worry; I’m not about to do a Michael Fabricant tribute act.
This is actually serious.
For those of you at the back of the room who can’t see, I have here a judge’s wig.
It’s something we should respect and revere.
When a judge dons their wig, it signifies a transition from their everyday personality and identity to that of a legal arbiter.
It’s a visual representation of the judge’s role as an unbiased mediator, focused solely on upholding the law and delivering justice.
An unbiased mediator: that is what a judge should be.
That is what the vast majority of judges in our legal system do.
They wear the wig. They respect and revere it.
And that’s why, in turn, our legal system is respected and revered all around the world.
But we’ve got a problem, Conference.
Today, I’ve uncovered dozens of judges with ties to open-borders charities, who take to social media to broadcast their open-border views, who’ve spent their careers fighting to keep illegal migrants in this country.
Some even continue to do so while, astonishingly, serving as judges.
It’s like finding out halfway through a football match that the referee is a season ticket holder for the other side.
The public rightly ask, how independent are they?
They dishonour generations of independent jurists who came before them and undermine the British people’s trust in the law itself.
Judges who blur the line between adjudication and activism can have no place in our justice system.
Which is why we won’t just tinker with a broken system and reform immigration tribunals.
We will abolish them, once and for all.
And we won’t stop there.
We will restore the proper role of our judiciary, putting ultimate power back where it belongs: in the hands of Parliament and ministers accountable to you, the people of our country.
So, I can announce today that we will restore the Office of the Lord Chancellor to its former glory.
We will reverse the constitutional vandalism of Tony Blair and New Labour.
The Lord Chancellor will once again appoint the judges. No more quangos.
And they will be instructed to never permit activists of any political hue to don the wig, ever again.
They will also be responsible for issuing new sentencing guidelines.
The two-tier Sentencing Council is not fit for purpose, so it must be abolished altogether.
Never again will this country and our people face the prospect of two-tier justice under two-tier Keir.
Every single person will be treated exactly the same.
Not equity. Equality.
That, ladies and gentlemen, is the conservative, no, that is the British way to do justice.
Now, I know you’re all wondering: who’s the fourth blonde I mentioned at the beginning?
The one who would point the way to how we recover the fortunes of our party.
Is it Margaret Thatcher? Not this time.
Boris Johnson? No.
Lord Heseltine? Bear with me.
Now, as you can imagine, Michael Heseltine and I do not agree on everything.
But he told me that when he was a young man in opposition in the 1970s under Margaret Thatcher, he would wake up every morning and ask his wife, “How am I going to fight, fight, fight Labour today?”
And at the end of that day, he would lie in bed and ask his wife (he obviously wasn’t the most romantic man), “Tomorrow, how am I going to fight, fight, fight Labour?”
Now, I don’t say that to my wife in bed.
But I do think it.
And that is what each and every one of us must do.
Fight this failing Labour government. Fight for the future of our country.
And when we fight, we win.
Like forcing Sadiq Khan to go after those fare-dodgers who blight the capital.
Stopping two-tier sentencing rules and guidelines.
And ensuring there is equality before the law for everyone.
And, most importantly of all, led by Kemi, shaming the Labour Government to hold a full national inquiry into the rape gang scandal.
Don’t let anyone tell you that opposition is pointless.
It matters. And right now, it matters more than ever.
And, Conference, your support matters.
To the door knockers, the pavement pounders, the envelope stuffers, the tweeters, and the TikTokkers, the members and councillors across the length and breadth of this country: let me say to you, thank you.
Each day, in all kinds of ways, you’re getting things done far away from the wood-panelled corridors of Westminster.
Thank you for everything you are doing. You are making our country a better place.
And please, though it may feel tough, don’t ever forget what you are doing for all of us right now.
Now, we all know that feeling when you’ve eaten too much and you simply think, “Enough.”
As those of you who have known me for a while will know, I used to feel that a lot more often than I do today.
But speaking to people out in the country, I think the British people are now using that same word: enough.
Enough of being overlooked.
Enough of being treated like fools.
They see it, don’t they? When they watch freeloaders brazenly walk out of shops laden with goods they haven’t paid for.
They hear it when morons blast their music in public places with utter disregard for others.
And they feel it when they see the police ignore all these things yet find time to knock on someone’s door and scold them for a post on social media.
Dismissed, derided, and demeaned for so long.
The British people are patient and tolerant.
But only up to a point.
They’ve had enough.
I’ve read countless stories about how talented young people are abandoning the UK, emigrating to Dubai, Singapore, or Australia.
And not just because of the weather.
Conference, this is my message to you: we may be a little down, but our country is not out.
Because there is a better way.
There is so much good in our country that’s worth fighting for.
We’ve got so much to cherish about who we are.
Blue remembered hills, seen from Black Country towns.
Big skies over the flat acres of Nottinghamshire.
The best farmers, food, and drink in the world: from Aberdeen Angus beef to Hawkstone Lager.
A love of pubs, a love of animals.
The common law, jury trials, a Royal Family so admired that they make the most powerful man in the world go weak at the knees, a military that has defeated every force on the planet.
The roar of the crowd at Twickenham when the Red Roses beat the Canadians, or Chris Woakes, arm in a sling, goes out to bat at the Oval.
The quiet kindness of our hospice movement.
The millions of volunteers whose helping hands and broad shoulders make our society strong.
The spirit of builders, of makers, of doers, of givers.
These are the reasons our hearts swell when we think of Britain.
I see it, Conference, and so do you.
I see it when I travel around our country, even making the occasional video.
I’ve developed a Michael Portillo-esque knowledge of Britain’s motorway service stations.
So, if you’re watching, hello to all my friends at Greggs at Peterborough North Services. You might see me later this week.
But above all, as I’ve been visiting communities, I’ve asked a lot of questions.
And I’m telling you, out there, the spirit is strong.
I felt it when I went to Epping and stood with local mums, sick of illegal migration and determined to keep their families safe.
I felt it when I went out with tradesmen, gasfitters like my dad, sick of their livelihoods being wrecked when scumbags break into their vans and nick their tools, then sell them in plain sight at the local car boot sale.
I felt it when I talked to folk putting up flags, sick of their identity being sneered at.
The collapse of the old order is in sight. A new one is coming.
Because the British people are fighting back.
And, Conference, there’s absolutely nothing Labour can do to stop them.
The only choice we have is whether we have the spirit to fight with them.
Are we going to quit when the going gets tough? Or are we going to dig deep and fight like never before?
How long will our battle last?
As long as it takes.
Because Britain, for all its present flaws, is too precious to lose.
Let me not see our country’s honour fade.
Let us see our land retain her soul, her pride, her freedom.
Conference, every tide turns. And I can feel Britain’s fortunes turning.
So, let’s pick ourselves up and dust ourselves down.
Let’s draw on Britain’s greatness to make it greater still.
Let’s fight for a better future.
Let’s build this new order.
Let’s take our country back.
