Robert Jenrick Goes The Extra Mile To Honour Margaret Thatcher's Memory
Robert Jenrick took his dedication to Margaret Thatcher to a new level over the weekend.
Weeks after he surprised fellow Tories by revealing at the annual Conservative conference that his daughter is named after the ex-prime minister, the leadership hopeful seemed to go one step further in an effort to honour the Iron Lady.
According to a clip making the rounds on social media, Jenrick, his wife Michal Berkner and Tory MP Andrew Rosindell got together to mark what would have been Thatcher’s 99th birthday.
The Tory trio can be seen standing together in front of a Thatcher portrait holding a Union Jack cake.
A group of people behind the camera shout out a countdown before Jenrick’s wife cuts into the dessert.
Thatcher would have been 99 on October 13.
Celebrating what would’ve been Margaret Thatcher’s 99th birthday. pic.twitter.com/74V1R9mMeT
— Arman Gevorgyan (@Arman_GBR) October 13, 2024
She died 11 years ago at the age of 87 after a stroke, but clearly continues to influence the modern day Conservative Party.
Jenrick – who is battling it out against Kemi Badenoch in the Tory leadership race – had made several references to her in recent weeks.
He told the party faithful in Birmingham he wanted his daughter – born in 2013, the same year the former PM died – to have Thatcher as a middle name, because “I thought it was a good way of reminding her of a great prime minister.”
Jenrick is not the only Conservative MP to make his feelings towards the late PM clear, either.
His leadership rival, Badenoch, also snuck a Thatcher reference in after she faced backlash for saying maternity pay is “excessive” earlier this month.
She said her comments had been taken out of context, much like the ex-PM’s now-famous claim that “there is no such thing as society”.
Fellow Conservative Desmond Swayne campaigned for re-election over the summer with a life-sized cardboard cut-out of Thatcher.
He posted photos of himself with the giant image on social media, joking that he had her “celebrity endorsement”.
Keir Starmer, on the hand, made headlines for doing the exact opposite in August.
Shortly after he moved into No.10, he removed an “unsettling” portrait of the Iron Lady from her former study, now known as the Thatcher room.
After criticism from ardent Thatcher supporters, he told the press his decision was nothing personal.
He said: “This is not actually about Margaret Thatcher at all. I don’t like images and pictures of people staring down. I found it when I was a lawyer. I used to have sort of pictures of judges. I don’t like it. I like landscapes.”