Robert Jenrick has filmed himself confronting alleged shoplifters in south London, declaring that parts of Britain have become “feral” and promising to step in when nobody else will. The Reform UK Treasury spokesman posted footage from Brixton showing him approaching a man carrying a bottle of drink outside Greggs and challenging him over whether he had paid for it.
Jenrick tells the man:
“I think you just nicked that, didn’t you?”
When the man denies stealing it, Jenrick replies:
“Well, we just watched you take it. Do you want to give it back?”
The man eventually hands the drink over, with Jenrick then asking:
“Why do you think you’re above the law?”
In another video from the same location, Jenrick confronts a woman he accuses of taking several bottles and tells her that “people like you should be in jail and you would be under a Reform government”.
Posting the first clip, @RobertJenrick wrote:
“Shoplifters are running riot. Parts of the country are feral.
If nobody else will confront them, I will.”
He followed it with another post:
“Scum who steal deserve a prison sentence, not sympathy.”
Shoplifting is a genuine and growing problem, with retailers increasingly warning about repeat offending, threats against staff and the cost of theft. Nearly 90,000 shoplifting offences were reported in London in 2024 alone, while stores have resorted to more security staff, locked displays and anti-theft technology.
Jenrick’s videos therefore landed on an issue many people are angry about. But once he cast himself as the politician willing to confront wrongdoing personally, critics started revisiting his own record in government, and there was plenty for them to work with.
‘Remember when you helped your mate avoid paying £40m in tax?’
One of the most widely shared responses went straight back to Jenrick’s time as communities secretary.
@I_amMukhtar wrote:
“Robert Jenrick is chasing a guy who stole a bottle of Coke worth about £2, but this is the same Robert Jenrick who helped his mate avoid paying £40 million in tax when he was Housing Secretary.”
Robert Jenrick is chasing a guy who stole a bottle of Coke worth about £2, but this is the same Robert Jenrick who helped his mate avoid paying £40 million in tax when he was Housing Secretary. https://t.co/LKVlpN9fkc
The figure usually quoted in the Westferry controversy is actually around £45 million. In 2020, Jenrick faced months of scrutiny over his decision to approve a major housing development in east London being pursued by billionaire media proprietor Richard Desmond, who later donated £12,000 to the Conservative Party.
Jenrick approved the 1,500-home Westferry Printworks development just one day before a new community infrastructure levy was due to take effect. Tower Hamlets Council estimated the developer could have faced a bill of around £40m to £45m had the levy applied.
Jenrick later acknowledged to MPs that he deliberately issued the decision before the deadline, saying he believed doing so was consistent with “natural justice” because the developer argued the project might otherwise become unviable. He denied acting because of Desmond’s Conservative links.
The planning decision was eventually quashed after Jenrick accepted it had been unlawful because of “apparent bias”, although that was not a finding that he had taken a bribe or personally profited from the decision.
That distinction matters. But it also explains why footage of Jenrick chasing someone over a drink worth a couple of pounds immediately prompted people to bring Westferry back into the conversation.
Then somebody remembered the Towns Fund
@TrevorGreetham replied:
“And the towns fund. Don’t forget the towns fund. His first gig.”
This referred to another controversy from Jenrick’s time in government. The £3.6bn Towns Fund was created to support struggling communities, but the way some areas were selected came under heavy scrutiny after Jenrick’s own Newark constituency was included for up to £25m of funding.
Jenrick denied personally choosing Newark and said another minister had signed off the decision. However, a cross-party Public Accounts Committee later criticised the process, saying ministers’ explanations were “vague and based on sweeping assumptions”.
Committee chair Meg Hillier said the way money had been distributed gave “every appearance of having been politically motivated”.
Again, this was not a finding that Jenrick had stolen public money. But when a politician presents himself as someone personally policing wrongdoing, old questions about public money have a habit of resurfacing.
The £122 expenses claim came back too
Another response resurrected a much smaller episode from 2019.
Jenrick was required to repay £122.40 in mileage expenses after claiming for both car mileage and a rail ticket connected to the same return journey between Newark and London. The claim involved two mileage payments of £61.20 alongside a £159 return rail ticket.
The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority investigated after a constituent spotted the duplication and concluded that it had been a genuine administrative mistake. Jenrick repaid the money.
His spokesman said at the time:
“As IPSA said, it was a genuine administrative error from his office and, when brought to his attention, it was repaid.”
So this was not a case of Jenrick deliberately stealing £122 from the taxpayer. But social media being social media, the old headline returned almost immediately once he started confronting alleged thieves in the street.
The ‘deserves a medal’ comment did him no favours
The sharper comparison concerned something much more recent.
At Reform UK’s conference last month, footage showed an older man using a crutch during an altercation with female protesters. Jenrick was later asked about the incident on TalkTV and said:
“I’m sorry for the OAP who’s had his picture plastered all over the papers. He should be given a medal for what he did.”
That quote inevitably resurfaced under his shoplifting videos.
@WokeratiMarty wrote:
“Robert Jenrick takes issue with a black man stealing a bottle of drink, but thinks the old white guy who assaulted a young woman with his crutch ‘deserves a medal.’
Rob’s a hypocrite.”
‘Same crime, different postcode’
Another response questioned where Jenrick chose to film the videos.
@narindertweets wrote:
“We ran a corner shop in Newcastle for 50 years. White area, so the shoplifters were white. Same crime, different postcode. Robert, film there next.”
Jenrick himself did not mention the alleged shoplifters’ ethnicity in his posts. However, Reform’s wider messaging on shoplifting has repeatedly linked crime with immigration, which meant the location and presentation of the videos drew additional criticism from some users.
In its own article promoting Jenrick’s videos, Reform quoted shadow home secretary Zia Yusuf claiming Britain’s shops were being “robbed blind by foreign criminals” before highlighting cases involving asylum seekers.
That wider context is why some viewers saw more than a straightforward law-and-order message in the Brixton footage.
‘People shouldn’t shoplift, of course’
Not all of the criticism tried to excuse shoplifting. Several people were explicit that theft is wrong while still questioning whether Jenrick was the right person to cast himself as the enforcer.
@SpencerDea2103 wrote:
“People shouldn’t shop-lift/steal, of course. Yet, do you not think there are societal issues caused by Tory austerity, for example? I think it’s a bit rich coming from an ex-Tory who saved his mate 10s of millions unlawfully as well as the billions stolen during Covid e.g. Mone.”
That post overstates part of the Westferry affair. Jenrick’s decision was quashed after he accepted it had been unlawful by reason of apparent bias, but no court found that he had personally “saved his mate” £45m as part of a corrupt arrangement.
@Divinadecampo took a different approach, blaming years of Conservative policy:
“You did this. You and the tory party did this. You sucked all the money out of the system. Killed off youth clubs, libraries, mobility schemes, education, extra curricular activities. Destroyed hope and job prospects. You did this.”
And @seaninroundhay wrote:
“Anyone remember which party initially cut Police numbers & stations before realising their mistake, upping recruitment so replacing experience with naivety & making them less effective? Robert???”
Jenrick served as a Conservative MP from 2014 before moving to Reform UK and held several ministerial positions, including communities secretary and immigration minister. Critics therefore see an obvious tension in a former Conservative minister now presenting himself as the outsider confronting problems that developed during the years his old party was in power.
Jenrick would argue that his departure from the Conservatives is precisely because he came to believe they had failed.
Jenrick has used this style before
The Brixton videos are not Jenrick’s first attempt at this kind of political content.
Earlier this year, he filmed himself confronting alleged fare dodgers on the London Underground, including at Stratford station, where he challenged people pushing through ticket barriers and asked why they believed they should not have to pay when everyone else did.
Jenrick later claimed the publicity helped force action, pointing to an increase in penalties issued to fare dodgers.
It is easy to understand why the format appeals politically. Shoplifting and fare dodging are visible forms of rule-breaking that irritate people because they see them happening in front of them. A politician turning up with a camera and physically challenging someone creates a much more immediate piece of content than a policy paper on sentencing, policing or retail crime.
The first Brixton video also appears to achieve the basic thing Jenrick wanted: the drink is handed back.
The problem is that putting yourself forward as the politician personally confronting wrongdoing invites people to examine how consistently you apply that standard.
In Jenrick’s case, the internet did exactly that.
Social media brought the receipts
@ElyzabethSB wrote:
“He’s a first-class hypocrite.”
@FlorenceLox replied with an old headline about Jenrick’s duplicate expenses claim.
@colder_sarcasm wrote:
“So you’ll be going after those who miss old PPE under the Tories?”
@JoeLever89 wrote:
“Why don’t you hound your mates for the millions we need rather than hounding people over a couple bottles of coke.”
@stuarthazeldine wrote:
“Oh my god, dude. Someone needs to stage an intervention and take your phone away for good. 🤦🏻♂️”
And @DrOsitaMba summed up his reaction rather more briefly:
“The sheer brass neck 🤭”
Nobody needs to defend shoplifting to understand why Jenrick’s videos generated this response. He wanted the clips to make a simple argument about lawlessness, weak enforcement and consequences for people who steal.
Instead, they also reopened Westferry, the Towns Fund, his expenses claim, his Conservative record and his recent comments about the Reform supporter with the crutch.
Once a politician decides to turn himself into the person chasing wrongdoing down the street, the obvious question becomes whether he is just as interested in wrongdoing when the numbers, people and institutions involved are much bigger.
One response to “Robert Jenrick confronts £2 shoplifter, and the internet immediately reminds him of his own rather dodgy history”
Johnny
Shops have their security guard let them do their job.
You’re definitely not like person to be chasing shoplifters,lets face it You’re not squeaky clean are you.
After seeing what you did in the past its surprises me You’re not keeping yourself from the public as much as you can.
People are not stupid and people don’t forget.
Harassing a shoplifter for a bottle of coke what did you expect a bloody medal you muppet.
Jordon Scott is a digital media specialist and editor at The Daily Britain. He focuses on political coverage, platform strategy, and ensuring journalism remains accessible without compromising editorial standards.
He oversees publication structure, reach, and transparency across the site.
Shops have their security guard let them do their job.
You’re definitely not like person to be chasing shoplifters,lets face it You’re not squeaky clean are you.
After seeing what you did in the past its surprises me You’re not keeping yourself from the public as much as you can.
People are not stupid and people don’t forget.
Harassing a shoplifter for a bottle of coke what did you expect a bloody medal you muppet.
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