‘Pack of lies’: Robert Jenrick launches personal attack on Kemi Badenoch

Reform MP seeks to heap pressure on Tory leader amid confusion around details of meeting with Giorgia Meloni

Robert Jenrick has accused Kemi Badenoch of telling “a pack of lies” about her meeting with the Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, as he launched a deeply personal attack on his former boss.

The Reform UK MP sought to heap pressure on the Conservative leader amid confusion about whether Meloni had used a meeting in Rome with Badenoch to urge her to “be her own woman” and resist doing a deal with his party.