Sir Mark Spencer, Boris Johnson’s former Chief Whip, was selected on Friday as the Conservative candidate to face Reform UK’s Robert Jenrick in Newark, and, according to an interview published on Saturday, believes Kemi Badenoch has “the potential to equal or exceed” Johnson and David Cameron, the two prime ministers he named among his favourites.
Both Cameron and Johnson, however, presided over record migration highs, respectively, and are deeply unpopular in the country.
In an interview with the local paper, Spencer blames Johnson’s downfall on “scandals including Downing Street parties.” At the time, Spencer himself told a local radio station that most people didn’t care about the topic.
He also stood by earlier comments that “The prime minister will not have lied about any parties” and “I’m told there weren’t any parties.”
On the pandemic, Spencer said: “Covid was a huge challenge and we did make some mistakes. We were let down by some people that ignored those rules and I’m not willing to defend their behaviour.” Asked about a job in government if Badenoch wins the next election, he said: “It would be impossible to say no to that, because that’s where my heart is.”
Of Jenrick, who defected from the Conservatives to Reform on 15 January, Spencer said: “I find it quite sad, to be honest, because I don’t recognise the Robert that I knew.” Jenrick, however, has said that he has been radicalised by the mood of the country, and now recognises the Conservative Party has no intention of changing anything, not least itself.
In October 2024, Spencer even backed Jenrick over Badenoch for the Conservative leadership, saying “we didn’t deal with immigration despite saying we were going to.”
A Reform UK spokesman called Spencer “a failed career politician” whom the Tories “parachuted in.” “He was kicked out of Parliament by his own voters and now wants to climb on the gravy train by using the people of Newark.”
Spencer, 56, was selected at Newark Showground on Friday from a shortlist of four. He was previously the Tory MP for Sherwood from 2010 until he lost the renamed Sherwood Forest seat to Labour in July 2024.
After serving as Johnson’s Chief Whip from July 2019 to February 2022, he was Leader of the House from February to September 2022 and a farming minister from 2022 to 2024. He was knighted in the March 2024 political honours.
