Robert Jenrick facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Robert Jenrick
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Official portrait, 2024
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| Shadow Secretary of State for Justice Shadow Lord Chancellor |
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| Assumed office 4 November 2024 |
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| Leader | Kemi Badenoch |
| Preceded by | Edward Argar |
| Minister of State for Immigration | |
| In office 25 October 2022 – 6 December 2023 |
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| Prime Minister | Rishi Sunak |
| Preceded by | Tom Pursglove |
| Succeeded by | Michael Tomlinson (Countering Illegal Migration) Tom Pursglove (Legal Migration and the Border) |
| Minister of State for Health | |
| In office 7 September 2022 – 25 October 2022 |
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| Prime Minister | Liz Truss |
| Preceded by | Gillian Keegan |
| Succeeded by | Helen Whately |
| Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government | |
| In office 24 July 2019 – 15 September 2021 |
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| Prime Minister | Boris Johnson |
| Preceded by | James Brokenshire |
| Succeeded by | Michael Gove |
| Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury | |
| In office 9 January 2018 – 24 July 2019 |
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| Prime Minister | Theresa May |
| Preceded by | Andrew Jones |
| Succeeded by | Simon Clarke |
| Member of Parliament for Newark |
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| Assumed office 5 June 2014 |
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| Preceded by | Patrick Mercer |
| Majority | 3,572 (6.7%) |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Robert Edward Jenrick
9 January 1982 Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Spouse | Michal Berkner |
| Children | 3 |
| Education | Wolverhampton Grammar School |
| Alma mater | St John's College, Cambridge University of Pennsylvania The College of Law |
Robert Jenrick (born 9 January 1982) is a British politician. He has been a Member of Parliament (MP) for Newark since 2014. He is currently the Shadow Secretary of State for Justice and Shadow Lord Chancellor since November 2024.
Before this, he held important roles in the government. He was the Minister of State for Immigration from 2022 to 2023. He also served as Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government from 2019 to 2021. He is a member of the Conservative Party.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Robert Jenrick was born on 9 January 1982 in Wolverhampton, England. He grew up in Shropshire and Herefordshire. His father was a finance director and later a managing director.
Jenrick went to Wolverhampton Grammar School, a private school. He then studied history at St John's College, Cambridge, graduating in 2003. He also studied political science at the University of Pennsylvania in the United States. Later, he studied law and became a solicitor in 2008. A solicitor is a type of lawyer who advises clients and prepares legal documents.
Before becoming an MP, Jenrick worked as a director at Christie's, a famous company that holds auctions.
Parliamentary Career
Becoming an MP
In the 2010 general election, Jenrick tried to become the MP for Newcastle-under-Lyme but did not win.
In 2013, he was chosen to run in a special election for the Newark area. The previous MP had resigned. Jenrick won this election on 5 June 2014.
After his election, there were questions about how much money was spent on his campaign. The Electoral Commission looked into it. They found that the Conservative Party had broken some spending rules. The party was fined £70,000. Jenrick said he was sure his expenses followed the law.
Early Roles in Parliament
From 2015 to 2018, Jenrick was a Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS). This means he was a helper to senior government ministers like Esther McVey, Michael Gove, Liz Truss, and Amber Rudd.
In 2015, he won re-election as MP for Newark with a large majority. He won again in the 2017 general election.
In January 2018, he became the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury. In this role, he helped the government manage its money.
Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (2019–2021)
In July 2019, Boris Johnson became Prime Minister. He appointed Robert Jenrick as the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government. This made Jenrick the youngest member of Johnson's team of top ministers. In this job, he was in charge of policies about housing, local councils, and communities.
Jenrick said that fighting antisemitism (hatred towards Jewish people) was a top priority for him. He also said he wanted universities and local councils to adopt a specific definition of antisemitism.
In January 2020, Jenrick said he hoped the British embassy in Israel would move to Jerusalem. The government had not said it would do this.
Housing Safety Concerns
After the Grenfell Tower fire, there were many concerns about building safety. Jenrick's approach to these issues was criticized. Some people felt he did not do enough to make buildings safer. They said he failed to take strong action and that many people still lived in flats with fire risks.
In 2020, a survey showed that many people living in affected flats felt the government's response was not helpful. It was estimated that millions of people still lived in flats with fire-related problems.
Travel During the COVID-19 Pandemic
During the COVID-19 pandemic in April 2020, Jenrick urged people to stay at home. However, reports said he traveled from London to his family home in Herefordshire, which was 150 miles away. He said this was his family home, where they were before travel rules started.
He also traveled 40 miles to see his parents to deliver essential items. He said he did not go inside their house. Some politicians criticized him for these journeys, saying he should have followed the rules more strictly given his public role.
Planning Decisions
In June 2020, Jenrick faced questions about his decisions on building projects. He approved a large housing development in London. A government inspector had advised against it, saying it did not have enough affordable homes. Jenrick's decision was later found to be "unlawful" by a court because it looked like he was biased. He admitted his approval was "unlawful by reason of apparent bias." This meant the decision had to be made again by a different minister.
In September 2021, Jenrick was removed from his role as Communities Secretary. Michael Gove took over his position.
Ministerial Career (2022–2023)
In September 2022, Jenrick became the Minister of State for Health. The next month, he was appointed Minister of State for Immigration by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. In this role, he dealt with issues related to people coming into the UK.
He visited a facility for people seeking asylum in Kent after an inspector said the situation there was "wretched." In March 2023, Jenrick said that people seeking asylum should be housed in very basic places, like old army bases or ships. He argued this would save money and discourage people from coming to the UK.
In April 2023, the government announced it would use a large boat, the Bibby Stockholm, to house 500 people seeking asylum. Jenrick supported this, saying it would save taxpayer money.
He resigned from his position on 6 December 2023. He said he had "strong disagreements" with the government's plan for people seeking asylum in Rwanda. He felt the plan did not go far enough to stop illegal immigration.
In Opposition
After the 2024 general election, where the Conservative Party lost, Jenrick ran to become the new leader of the party. He won the most votes in the first two rounds of voting among MPs. However, he lost the final vote to Kemi Badenoch.
In September 2024, Jenrick received a £75,000 donation from a company based in the British Virgin Islands. This raised questions because the company seemed to have no employees or profits. A businessman later said he provided the donation through that company.
After the leadership election, Kemi Badenoch appointed Jenrick as the Shadow Secretary of State for Justice. This means he is the main spokesperson for the Conservative Party on justice matters while they are not in government.
Political Views
Jenrick's political views have become more right-wing recently, especially on immigration.
Key Principles
In August 2024, Jenrick outlined 10 principles he believes the Conservative Party should follow. These included ideas like "market economics drive growth" and "we need a small state that works."
Immigration
Jenrick is strongly against mass immigration. He wants to greatly reduce both legal and illegal immigration. He has been called a "hardliner" on this issue.
He has suggested breaking up the Home Office into smaller departments. One of these would focus only on border control and reducing immigration. He has also proposed denying visas to people from countries that do not take back their citizens who are in the UK illegally.
Jenrick supports leaving the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). He believes this is necessary to remove people seeking asylum more quickly. He has also suggested setting a legal limit of 10,000 visas per year.
In April 2023, Jenrick said that people crossing the English Channel could "undermine cultural cohesiveness." He argued that the UK has a right to protect itself. He also said that the number of people able to reach the UK is "astronomical."
He supports classifying countries like Albania, Turkey, Brazil, and Vietnam as safe for asylum purposes. He says these are "holiday destinations, not war-torn hell-holes."
In September 2024, he argued that English national identity was being harmed by mass immigration and "woke culture." He wrote that the combination of migration and changes to national culture creates "huge problems."
Israel
Jenrick is a member of the Conservative Friends of Israel group in Parliament. His wife's family are descendants of Holocaust survivors, which he says connects him to the Jewish community.
He has consistently supported Israel. In October 2023, he criticized the BBC for not calling Hamas a terrorist organization. In December 2023, he called for Israel to "finish the job" in its conflict with Hamas.
In September 2024, during his leadership campaign, he promised to move Britain's embassy in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital. He said he wants the UK to be "the most welcoming country in the world for Israelis and for the Jewish community."
Personal Life
Jenrick is married to Michal Berkner. She is a corporate lawyer from Israel. They have three daughters, who they are raising in the Jewish faith.
In 2022, Jenrick's family hosted a family from Ukraine who were seeking refuge. He was the first British MP to do this.
Jenrick owns three homes. One is a townhouse in London, and another is a historic building called Eye Manor in Herefordshire. He also rents a property in his Newark constituency, which is paid for by an allowance for MPs' second homes.
In April 2023, Jenrick was banned from driving for six months and fined for speeding on the M1 motorway. He said he accepted the court's decision and did not see a speed limit sign.
Images for kids
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Westferry Road, Isle of Dogs, in 2012.
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Logo for Jenrick's 2024 leadership bid
