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.

But Mr Jenrick said: “I don’t want our human rights apparatus to be standing in the way of protecting the lives of the brave men and women who serve in our special forces.”

Mr Jenrick doubled down on other absurdities at the party conference in Birmingham, restating his call for saying “Allahu Akbar” in public to be criminalised and revealing that his daughter’s middle name was Thatcher.

He also sought to overcome the fact that he campaigned for Remain in the 2016 referendum by pointing out that some of the Tories’ most iconic Brexiteers — Lord Frost, John Redwood and Bill Cash among them — were backing his candidacy.

This is doing his chances no harm among the Tory membership, who will get to vote once the 121 Conservative MPs have whittled the list of leadership aspirants down to two.

However, YouGov polling suggests he still lags behind Kemi Badenoch among members. 

She has suggested that maternity pay is too high and the minimum wage is problematic.

The public, however, prefer Tom Tugendhat who, as the most moderate candidate standing, ranks last among Tory members. 

In that Savanta poll, Ms Badenoch brought up the rear among the public.

Mr Jenrick and James Cleverly answered questions on the conference stage before all four candidates make final pitches tomorrow. 

Mr Cleverly called on the Tories to promise less and deliver more, including tax cuts alongside a rise in military spending to 3 per cent of GDP.

Other polls suggested that more than half of Tory members want to merge with Reform UK and that the public now prefers Rishi Sunak’s government to Sir Keir Starmer’s.

And the Prime Minister’s personal ratings have plummeted by 38 points, to a net minus-27 since the election, amid the freebies fiasco and the cuts to the winter fuel allowance for pensioners.