One of the leading candidates to succeed Rishi Sunak, Mr. Jenrick, declared in a video broadcast on Monday that the United Kingdom “must leave the ECHR,” or European Court of Human Rights.
Mr. Jenrick quotes a former defense secretary Ben Wallace’s piece as saying, “Our special forces are killing, rather than capturing terrorists because our lawyers tell us if they are caught the European Court will set them free.”
James Cleverly and Tom Tugendhat, two other candidates for leadership, have refuted the charge.
Prior to the election, Mr. Tugendhat, a former army officer and security minister, told News that Mr. Jenrick’s remarks were “wrong” and demonstrated a “fundamental misunderstanding of military operations and the law of unarmed conflict”.
Speaking to News, he expressed his caution that the remarks made should not be interpreted as motivating anybody to do anything apart from handing themselves up to British soldiers upon request.
