Ex-defence secretary saw 'no evidence' of claim that SAS kill terrorists

Conservative leadership contender Robert Jenrick is facing backlash after claiming UK special forces are “killing rather than capturing terrorists” as part of his criticism of the European Court of Human Rights.

As the race to succeed Rishi Sunak hots up, Jenrick claimed in a new campaign video that the SAS is “killing rather than capturing terrorists, because our lawyers tell us that if they’re caught, the European Court will set them free”.

Sharing the video on social media, he wrote: “Do you want to deport foreign criminals, get terrorists off our streets, and end illegal migration? Then we must leave the ECHR.”

Grant Shapps told ITV News at the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham that he never saw any evidence of Jenrick’s claim during his time as defence secretary, suggesting his view was “too extreme”.

“That’s not correct and I think probably on reflection he didn’t quite mean to say it like that, I imagine,” Shapps said.

‘If you’re asking me did I see evidence of that – no absolutely not as defence secretary,’ Grant Shapps tells ITV News Deputy Political Editor Anushka Asthana

“It is legitimate to be concerned about where things like the ECHR sit on this but certainly as defence secretary I saw no evidence of what he suggested as a direct link, so it sort of went from A to Z rather than the subtleties in that situation.”

He added: “If you’re asking me did I see evidence of that – no absolutely not as defence secretary and I think making that direct comparison probably inadvertently in Robert’s case was too extreme.”

The frontrunner in the race to replace Sunak has spent the day doubling down on the claim, defending his assertion that the British military is taking lethal action because of fears that European laws would free any detained assailants as “absolutely correct” – though he admitted he could not “elaborate on particular cases”.

He has drawn condemnation from across the political divide over his statement and was met with swift criticism from his campaign rivals.

Labour’s Diane Abbott re-posted the video on X writing “rock bottom racism from Robert Jenrick”, while human rights lawyer Jessica Simor KC described Jenrick’s claims as a “serious allegation of criminality” on the platform, adding: “If he ordered it or has information, he must be held to account.”

Tom Tugendhat who is also vying to replace Sunak, said he was “extremely concerned” at Jenrick’s remarks and suggested it demonstrated “a fundamental misunderstanding” of the law of armed conflict.

Another fellow contender and ex-foreign secretary James Cleverly urged him to “justify that statement” in media appearances on Tuesday.

Former Conservative attorney general Dominic Grieve described the promotional clip, in which Jenrick made the claim, as “one of the most astonishing videos I have ever seen posted by a Conservative MP, let alone a candidate for the leadership”.

He told LBC “there’s something particularly nasty about this piece of Jenrick propaganda.”

A Labour source said: “Robert Jenrick’s ludicrous attempt to politicise our special forces shows you how far the Tories have fallen. He should apologise. Our brave servicemen and women deserve better than this.”

When asked on Tuesday whether he could back up the claim, Jenrick insisted he could not “elaborate on particular cases” and instead cited comments made by ex-defence secretary Ben Wallace to the Telegraph.

Wallace told the newspaper last year that Britain was unable to render people across borders, meaning “we are more often than not forced into taking lethal action (rather) than actually raiding and detaining”.

But he stopped short of calling for the UK to leave the ECHR – a move supported by Jenrick and one he has repeatedly brought up during his campaign.

Repeatedly asked whether he knows that special forces are killing terrorists instead of capturing them, Jenrick told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “As Ben Wallace has said in that (Telegraph) interview, decision-makers are being asked to make decisions which they might not ordinarily make – for example, to call in a drone strike and take lethal action in that way.”

It was put to the former immigration minister that he is unable to back up his claim, to which he replied: “Of course I’m not going to elaborate on particular cases because these things, these cases are not things that any minister or foreign minister can speak about.”

He denied he could have chosen his words more carefully, insisting “the point I was making was absolutely correct”.

The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) is “forcing decision-makers to make decisions which they might not ordinarily make,” he suggested.

With criticism focused on Jenrick, heat had moved away from Kemi Badenoch’s earlier remarks that statutory maternity leave pay was “excessive”.

On Monday, she compared her comments with the often-repeated quote attributed to Margaret Thatcher that there is “no such thing as society”, from an interview the ex-prime minister gave to a women’s magazine about the importance of family.

Analysis by polling company Ipsos has, meanwhile, suggested voters who deserted the Tories at the general election did so for a host of reasons.

To win them back, the Tories would need to “convince quite different groups of voters the party shares their values”, Ipsos director of politics Keiran Pedley said.

While winning back voters from Reform UK has pre-occupied the attention of many in the Conservative Party, members were warned Green candidates could thwart them in council elections next year.

Senior Tory councillor Phil Broadhead told activists that voters had “got a lot of their anger out of their system” at July’s general election.

The Conservative Councillors’ Association chairman described Nigel Farage’s Reform UK as a potential threat to his party’s electoral success in May 2025, but added that Green Party candidates have won victories in “posh Tory areas” where people “care about these particularly environmental protection issues”.

“So, I think we need to occupy that space and regain it,” he added.