Tom Tugendhat: I’m ready to leave the ECHR
Tom Tugendhat has said he is willing to leave the European Convention on Human Rights in his pitch for the Tory leadership.
In an article for The Telegraph, the former security minister said that if institutions made it harder for Britain to control its borders, the UK would have to “exempt ourselves from them” or “leave their jurisdiction”.
Announcing his bid to lead the party, he said this was a “common-sense Conservative position” to take.
Mr Tugendhat, seen as a moderate in the race to succeed Rishi Sunak, said the Tories lost the election because they had lost the “trust” of the British people after failing to meet promises to lower taxes and immigration.
His position on the ECHR will be seen as an attempt to challenge Kemi Badenoch, one of the frontrunners in the race. The shadow housing secretary has in the past said the option of leaving the convention should be kept open, and it is likely to be a centrepiece of her campaign.
In his article, Mr Tugendhat, a former security minister, said he did not believe the leadership election would be divisive because there was broad agreement on many issues.
He said: “Some people think the Conservative leadership election will be divisive, splitting the party. That’s wrong because actually, there’s a long list of things this election isn’t about: the ECHR. Gender. Tax rates. Defence spending. Net zero.
“These are things that aren’t up for debate in this leadership election. Why not? Because politics is about principles and all Conservatives are guided by our basic principles here.
“We know that if institutions do not serve the British people and make it harder to control our own borders, then we will have to exempt ourselves from them, or leave their jurisdiction.”
“We know what a woman is. We all want lower taxes. We all know national security must come before Treasury spreadsheets. We all know that energy security and household bills come first.
“These are common-sense Conservative positions. They are non-negotiable for me and, I would hope, for anyone else who puts themselves forward.”
He has also pledged to increase defence spending to 3 per cent of national income, and said that household bills must be kept down amid moves to meet net zero targets. He called for planning rules to be revised so cities could build upwards rather than outwards.
Mr Tugendhat’s position on the ECHR has changed since 2022, when he dismissed calls to leave.
However, in 2015 he said the ECHR must no longer apply to Britain’s Armed Forces in wartime. He is understood to have long supported opting out of certain parts of the convention, and is concerned that the European Court of Human Rights has overreached in recent years, such as when it told Switzerland its people’s human rights were under threat by its failure to tackle carbon emissions.
He objects to the convention being used to block things over which it has no jurisdiction. He wants to see reform of the ECHR and withdrawing from certain aspects where it is necessary to remove illegal migrants.
His position goes further than Mr Sunak, who said before the election that he would consider leaving the European Court of Human Rights if necessary to boost Britain’s security.
The Tory manifesto said: “If we are forced to choose between our security and the jurisdiction of a foreign court, including the European Court of Human Rights, we will always choose our security.”
In his article, Mr Tugendhat said: “I want to be completely open about what I’m doing. I am not just running to be the next leader of the Conservative Party. I am running to be the next Conservative prime minister.
“That is what this leadership election is all about: winning. We can’t serve the British people if we don’t win the next general election. We can win it. We must win it. I can lead the party to that victory.”
He added: “Clever people have already written a million complicated words about why we lost that election, but I can do it in one: trust. We lost the trust of the British people, because we didn’t do what we said we would.
“The second part of that sentence is very important. It contains an important truth for Conservatives. The public wanted the things we promised: lower taxes, lower immigration, more control over their everyday lives. Those are conservative ideas. We just didn’t deliver.
“That’s not a story of Left or Right. It’s not a story of factions or families. It’s a simple truth. The British people wanted control – over their lives, streets, borders, trade and much more – and instead we lost it. We couldn’t deliver because we were too focused on fighting each other, not on delivering for the people of this country, the families who rely on us to see our promises through.”
He accused Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour party of “squabbling” and “taking every opportunity to make the state bigger”.
“One Parliament of this will be dreadful, and we owe the British people an apology for letting them down,” he said. “Two terms would be a national disaster, which is why we must listen, change, and stop them winning the next election.
“The key to victory is that simple word: trust. We must win back the trust of the British people by putting our trust in them.
“Politics, like life, comes down to one simple rule: keep your promises. When the Conservative Party does that, it wins. And the Conservative Party can win the next election. Trust me. I will make it happen.”
On Wednesday night, another potential rival of Mr Tugendhat, Victoria Atkins, announced she would not be standing in the Tory leadership race.
Writing for The Telegraph, she warned the Conservatives against a lurch either to the Left or the Right, saying the party could only get back to power by appealing to the young and rebuilding its reputation for pragmatism and competence, she said.
Nominations for the Conservative leadership contest close on Monday, and there will then be a series of votes by MPs before the final four are chosen for at the party conference.
The parliamentary party will select the final two candidates, who will then be subject to a vote by Conservative Party members. The winner will be announced on Nov 2.
On Tuesday, James Cleverly, the shadow home secretary, announced in The Telegraph that he would run to be leader, as he said the party must ditch “self-indulgent infighting”.
Other Tories understood to be considering running for the leadership include Robert Jenrick, the former immigration minister, and former home secretaries Dame Priti Patel and Suella Braverman.