Tory leadership hopeful Robert Jenrick's most controversial comments

Originally viewed as a Tory moderate, Robert Jenrick has shaped himself from a mild-mannered centrist to a leading figure of the Conservative populist right.

James Hockaday
Updated ·8-min read
File photo dated 02/08/24 of Tory leadership hopeful Robert Jenrick. When Suella Braverman first suggested to Robert Jenrick that Britain should pull out of the European Convention on Human Rights, he was, according to her,
Tory leadership contender Robert Jenrick has made his fair share of controversial remarks. (Alamy)

Originally viewed as a moderate within the Conservative Party, Robert Jenrick has shaped himself from a mild-mannered centrist to a leading figure of the Tory populist right.

There are sceptics within his ranks over just how genuine his transformation has been, but last month the Tory leadership contender insisted he would not backtrack on his policies and return his party to the centre if elected to succeed Rishi Sunak on Saturday.

"There are those who say that the Conservative Party, were I to lead it, is going to shift to the right," he told the BBC last month. "I actually don’t see these labels as at all relevant. What I want to see is the Conservative Party occupy what I describe as the common ground of British politics. Those are the things that millions of our fellow citizens care about."

Whether he will be able to outdo his leadership rival Kemi Badenoch by winning over right-leaning grassroots Tory members remains to be seen, but in a far cry from his early ministerial days, Jenrick has boosted his populist credentials in more recent years.

From colonial reparations to child asylum seekers, Yahoo News takes a look at the former immigration minister's more controversial moments.

What happened: Jenrick attracted criticism from fellow leadership candidates and military figures after suggesting British special forces are killing rather than capturing terrorists due to the European Court of Human Rights.

Insisting that the UK must "must leave the ECHR" in a video released in September, Jenrick cited an article by former defence secretary Ben Wallace, 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."

Leadership rival and former Armed Forces member and security minister, Tom Tugendhat told Sky News Jenrick's comments were "wrong" and a "fundamental misunderstanding of military operations and the law of unarmed conflict".

The former lieutenant colonel told BBC Newsnight the footage was "upsetting" as he'd served with some of the people featured in it, one of whom had died in an accident and was "not able to defend himself from the accusation that has effectively been levelled against him".

Speaking to Channel 5’s Jeremy Vine show, SAS: Who Dares Wins star and former special forces member Mark “Billy” Billingham said: "Our job's hard enough, we need people supporting us, not bad mouthing us... That would never, ever be said amongst our troops. Never."

What he said: Asked if he could back up his comments about the special forces, Jenrick said he could not "elaborate on particular cases" and continued to refer to Wallace's article for the Telegraph.

He doubled down at the Tory Party conference, telling members: "I don't want our human rights apparatus to be standing in the way of taking the right operational decisions for our national security, and for protecting the lives of the brave men and women who serve in our special forces."

As immigration minister, Jenrick ordered a mural featuring Mickey Mouse and other cartoon characters at a reception centre for child asylum seekers to be painted over, it emerged in July last year.

His reason? He was reported at the time to have thought the images at the Kent Intake Unit were "too welcoming" to the children, many of whom will have arrived via small boat crossings across the Channel.

Jenrick also said the paintings were not "age appropriate", telling the House of Commons the majority of those passing through the centre were teenagers.

https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprisons/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2023/06/WJF-Manston-and-KIU-web-2023.pdf
Robert Jenrick was reported at the time to consider these paintings as 'too welcoming' to child asylum seekers. (HM Inspector of Prisons)

Then-shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper criticised Jenrick, claiming nobody believes the mural would either "encourage or deter" migrant crossings while calling for "common decency towards vulnerable children".

Project manager for refugee charity Care4Calais, Charlotte Khan, said: "If Mickey Mouse is too 'welcoming' for ministers, the question is what will they replace him with in order to inflict more fear on traumatised asylum-seeking children - Maleficent? Ursula? Maybe even Cruella herself? The real villains in this sorry tale are Robert Jenrick and the rest of this heartless bunch that call themselves ministers."

What he said: Initially in the Commons, Jenrick stood by his decision, accusing Labour of "performative" compassion towards asylum seekers by expressing so much outrage over the decision.

However, he appeared to row back slightly in October when asked by Sky News' Sophy Ridge if he was sorry for the decision, albeit without explicitly apologising.

"It’s not something I would do again," he said.

As the UK faced pressure during the Commonwealth Summit in Samoa to apologise for its troubling imperial legacy and to pay reparations, Jenrick stridently rebutted the calls in a column for the Daily Mail.

He suggested former colonies owe a "debt of gratitude" for inheriting democratic institutions from Britain, adding: "I'm not ashamed of our history."

"It may not feel like it, but many of our former colonies - amid the complex realities of empire - owe us a debt of gratitude for the inheritance we left them," he said, describing the push for reparations as a narrative "stoked by a liberal elite and Labour politicians".

Describing Jenrick's remarks as a "deeply obnoxious distortion of history" in a post on X, Labour MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy said: "Enslavement and colonialism were not ‘gifts’ but imposed systems that brutally exploited people, extracted wealth, and dismantled societies, all for the benefit of Britain.

"To suggest that former colonies should be 'grateful' for such unimaginable harm disregards the legacy of these injustices and the long-term impact they still have on many nations today."

What he said: While Jenrick does not appear to have responded directly to the backlash he's faced, he did, in his column, that the British Empire "committed crimes on a terrible scale, including slavery, the displacement of peoples, and military aggression".

Jenrick's £1bn building development lobbying row

While serving as housing secretary in 2020, Jenrick found himself in the middle of a serious lobbying row after approving a £1bn development put forward by media tycoon Richard Desmond.

His department approved the scheme two weeks before the billionaire donated £12,000 to the Conservative Party, the Guardian reported, allowing the former Daily and Sunday Express owner to attend a Tory Carlton Club fundraising dinner in November 2019.

There, the mogul was reported to have sat with Jenrick and other property developers. Jenrick admitted to viewing a promotional video of the proposed development in London's Isle of Dogs on Desmond's phone but insisted he was "inadvertently" sat next to him.

Documents released in June 2020 revealed Desmond subsequently texted Jenrick repeatedly, urging him to approve the housing development quickly in order to avoid an impending £45m charge under the London borough of Tower Hamlets' community infrastructure levy (CIL).

The scandal piled pressure on Jenrick to resign, and the then-housing secretary later had to quash his own approval, conceding that the decision was "unlawful" due to "apparent bias", and the project was eventually ditched in 2021 after an appeal was dismissed. Downing Street said it considered the matter "closed".

What he said:

At the time, Jenrick admitted he regrets sitting next to Desmond at the fundraiser and exchanging text messages with him afterwards.

However, he initially said he did not believe the decision to green-light Desmond's plans for a 1,500-home development at the former Westferry printing works was the wrong one.

"I don't regret the decision, because I think it was right to get housing built on a brownfield site on a part of London that desperately needs it," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

“The system that I’ve helped to design that is set out in the proposals we’re publishing today will actually move us forward significantly on some of the challenges that that case rose."

As he faced calls to resign, he said allegations he'd been improperly influenced were "outrageous" and insisted he was not aware of Desmond's donation to the party at the time.

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