Leadership contender Robert Jenrick speaking at an fringe event during the Conservative Party Conference at the International Convention Centre in Birmingham, September 30, 2024
TORY leadership frontrunner Robert Jenrick was under fire today for unevidenced claims that British soldiers were being forced to kill rather than accept surrenders because of human rights law.
It is the latest extreme position taken by Mr Jenrick in his bid to corral the right-wing vote in the leadership election.
Former ministers queued up to criticise his latest claim, asserting that it is untrue and pointing out that it would discourage adversaries from surrendering to British troops if they thought they would be shot anyway.
Once derided by Farage as a ‘fraud,’ Jenrick has defected to Reform, bringing experience and political ruthlessness to the populist right — and raising the unsettling prospect of a Farage-led movement with a seasoned operative pulling the strings, says ANDREW MURRAY
KEITH FLETT traces how the ‘world’s most successful political party’ has imploded since Thatcher’s fall, from nine leaders in 30 years to losing all 16 English councils, with Reform UK symbolically capturing Peel’s birthplace, Tamworth — but the beast is not dead yet
