TOP Tory Robert Jenrick is the only hope to unite the party and regain public trust on immigration – as he knows Britain must ditch the Euro court, one of his allies has said.
Conservative MP Danny Kruger told the Sun’s Never Mind The Ballots he will back the former immigration minister in the race to replace Rishi Sunak as he has the qualities that “can best unite us”.
Mr Jenrick quit his ministerial post over the refusal by Rishi Sunak to take a tougher approach to immigration last year.
Since then he has been a vocal critic of Britain’s membership to the European Convention of Human Rights – arguing it is “unsustainable”.
Mr Kruger, who is the co-chair of the New Conservatives, a right-wing grouping of MPs, told our show: “The challenge we have got is to win back those voters we have lost to Reform, but also hold the centre of the party together and convince those wavering voters in the middle who might have left to the Lib Dems or even Labour that we are actually a responsible and competent party of government.
“And I think Rob manages that. He’s got the competence and the personality and the temperament, also he has got the right policies.”
Pressed on Mr Jenrick’s journey from Remainer to hardliner, Mr Kruger said: “It’s a shame it is seen as hardline and right-wing to want to restore sovereignty and control of our borders.
“What Rob has done has gone on the journey that the whole Conservative Party needs to go on, because it’s the journey that the electorate has gone on, the electorate who we need to win back.
“And I think the fact that he was a loyal, sensible, very capable minister in governments under Cameron and Theresa and Boris and the rest of them shows his capability and his loyalty to the party.”
The MP for East Wiltshire insisted Mr Jenrick is committed about delivering the “sovereignty” people requested “when they voted for Brexit” much more than the other candidates.
He went on to say: “He (Robert) recognised, as I think we all needed to at the time, that our policy on both legal and illegal migration wasn’t working.
“And in the recent years the country has lost faith in our ability to manage our borders.”
On membership of the Strasbourg court, he said: “I don’t think we lost the election because we weren’t right wing enough.
“We lost the election because we were incompetent in government.
“And in order to restore competence, we need to do things which might appear right wing like reassert our control of our borders and our laws and take a much more robust position on migration.
“But actually that’s the common ground where the British public are.
“On the ECHR, I don’t think that we’re ever going to win back public trust unless we announce that we’re going to leave the ECHR in some form.”
Mr Jenrick has not formally entered the race but he is expected to do so imminently.
Under plans drawn up by the 1922 Committee of Tory MPs and the party board, nominations will open on Wednesday evening and close in the afternoon on July 29.
The parliamentary party will then narrow the field down to four, who will make their case at the Conservative Party Conference, which runs from September 29 to October 2.
The final two, picked by the parliamentary party, will then be voted on by Conservative Party members in an online ballot that will close on October 31.
The result will be announced on November 2.
Mr Sunak, who will remain acting leader until a successor is appointed, has given his backing to the plans and said a “smooth and orderly transition” is in the “national interest”.
Shadow Home Secretary James Cleverly yesterday became the first hopeful to publicly declare his candidacy.
Other potential leadership contenders include shadow communities secretary Kemi Badenoch, former work and pensions secretary Mel Stride, former home secretary Dame Priti Patel and shadow security minister Tom Tugendhat.
THE European Court of Human Rights is a judicial body established to oversee the protection of human rights in Europe.
It’s part of the Council of Europe and the court is based in Strasbourg, France.
When individuals feel that their rights have been violated in any of the member countries, and they have exhausted all possible legal remedies in their own country, they can take their case to the ECHR.
This could involve issues like freedom of speech, the right to a fair trial, privacy rights, and protection from torture or discrimination.
The court examines the cases brought before it and decides whether there has indeed been a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights, which is the treaty that established the court and outlines the rights and freedoms that it protects.
If the ECHR finds that a violation has occurred, it can order the responsible country to take corrective actions, which might include changing laws or practices, or compensating the victims
