His hot-shot lawyer wife ‘indulges his little hobby’ of being MP
AT THE age of 19, rosy- cheeked Robert Jenrick knew his life would be a success. In an interview with Cambridge student magazine Varsity in 2001, the history undergraduate was asked what he would like to be in ten years’ time. Jenrick, with a quiff and a born-to-rule demeanour, replied: ‘A millionaire businessman fighting my first election to Parliament.’
He was soon on the way - standing as a ‘no-hope’ Tory for the constituency of Newcastle-under-Lyme in 2010 after a stint as a corporate lawyer and a brief foray into the top end of the antiques world.
Within nine years of that interview, he was a politician with a multi-million-pound property empire, albeit with a little help from his hot-shot lawyer wife. The student newspaper verdict of the self-described ‘driven, political, cultured’ Tory boy was that he ‘would treat you to a nice meal but you can’t help feeling there’s something hidden behind it all’. Prophetic words perhaps in light of the now Housing Secretary’s infamous Tory dinner with billionaire developer Richard Desmond that left him open to a ‘cash-forfavours row’ and has his nascent Cabinet career in jeopardy. Mr Jenrick first piqued Westminster’s attention at the 2014 Newark by-election when he overcame Nigel Farage, who was at the height of his swagger, in a battle almost as vicious as the town’s Royalist routing of the Roundheads in 1644.
The newest and youngest addition to the Tory benches was quickly tipped for big things. The only blemish on an otherwise faultless campaign was a whiff of privilege around why he formed a limited company to renovate the Pimlico townhouse on the exclusive Vincent Square that he purchased for £2,550,000 in 2013.
SUGGESTIONS this was perhaps a vehicle to reclaim VAT on the £850,000 worth of work were angrily denied. And in another prophetic warning, it later emerged that an extension to the house was blocked thrice by planning officials, before the intervention of the local Tory council.
The townhouse, less than a mile from the Commons, is registered in both Mr Jenrick’s name and that of his wife, Michal Berkner.
Ms Berkner, nine years older than her husband, is thought to be the main breadwinner in the household. The pair met at Skadden Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom – a New York law firm which has done work for Russian and Ukrainian oligarchs, including Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich.
Ms Berkner is now a partner at American law firm Cooley, where she leads cross-border mergers and acquisitions and works alongside a ‘high-profile client base.’ One Newark constituent told the Conservative Home website this week: ‘It’s perfectly clear who wears the trousers and it isn’t him. She indulges his little hobby of being an MP.’
However, Mr Jenrick’s career on the backbenchers quickly became more than a hobby. Despatched to the Treasury by Theresa May – a traditional nursery for rising stars – Jenrick was an early backer of Boris Johnson in last year’s Tory leadership election.
And his loyalty was rewarded with a plum role at Housing, making him the first millennial Cabinet Minister at the age of 37. A strong Commons performer, and a ‘steady pair of hands’ on broadcast appearances, Mr Jenrick quickly become one of the few Cabinet Ministers allowed into the current administration’s ‘circle of trust’ to represent the Government on TV and radio. Jenrick was also a regular feature at coronavirus press conferences, with No10 believing he ‘has had a good Covid-19 war’.
His only blip was a hotly disputed trip to visit his parents at the height of lockdown.
Insisting that he was delivering medicines to his shielding family, the episode put the spotlight on the Housing Secretary’s other million-pound house 40 miles away from his parents in neighbouring Herefordshire.
The country pad – which he also jointly owns with his wife – is one of the grandest manor houses in England. His wife also owns a flat in London that is rented out, and Mr Jenrick rents a £2,000 per month house in his Nottinghamshire constituency, despite promising in 2014 to buy in the area. ‘The Four Houses Secretary’ has become a favourite quip by Labour MPs.
No10 continues to throw a protective arm around one of their favourites, but there was another note of warning in Mr Jenrick’s student interview. The teenage undergraduate claimed ex-Foreign Secretary Lord Curzon was his political inspiration. It was Winston Churchill who tartly remarked of Curzon’s career: ‘The morning had been golden; the noontide was bronze; and the evening lead.’ Will the same be said of Robert Jenrick?