Tom Tugendhat has accused his Tory leadership rival Robert Jenrick of using footage of a dead soldier he served with in a campaign video which claimed the SAS is killing terrorists instead of capturing them.
Mr Jenrick, one of the frontrunners to replace Rishi Sunak, sparked a major backlash with a video on Monday about why the UK must leave the European Court of Human Rights.
In an effort to back up his campaign, Mr Jenrick says:Â ‘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.’
The accusation has been heavily condemned by Mr Tugendhat and James Cleverly, both of whom have served in the military and are also in the Tory leadership race.Â
And in an astonishing twist last night, Mr Tugendhat revealed that he knew one of the Special Forces soldiers who was shown carrying out an operation in the video at the exact point Mr Jenrick makes the controversial claim.
Speaking to Newsnight, the former security minister said: ‘What’s particularly upsetting is that video is using a piece of footage of some of the people I served with, one of whom died shortly after that film was taken in an accident.’
He said that the soldier was ‘not able to defend himself from the accusation which is effectively being levelled against him’.
Tom Tugendhat (pictured) last night accused his Tory leadership rival Robert Jenrick of using footage of a dead soldier he served with in a campaign video which claimed the SAS is killing terrorists instead of capturing them
When host Victoria Derbyshire asked: ‘So that is actually footage of somebody you knew?’, he replied: ‘Yes. That’s footage of a soldier in northern Afghanistan in around 2002.’
He added: ‘I do not think we should be using footage of our special forces soldiers in operations.’
When asked if Mr Jenrick should remove the footage, Mr Tugendhat replied: ‘I would not put that video out, in fact I would pull it down.’
He added: ‘This is simply factually incorrect… I think this video is simply wrong.’Â
Ms Derbyshire said he seemed ‘quietly furious’, to which he replied: ‘How would you feel if a friend of yours who died a few years after the film was taken was being included in an accusation… that would be against the values and standards of the armed forces.’Â
It came after Mr Jenrick doubled down on his accusation at the Conservative Party conference earlier on Tuesday.
Appearing on the main stage, he was asked whether he believes ‘special forces are killing rather than capturing terrorists because lawyers will set them free under the European Court’, he said: ‘I do, I do.’Â
He continued: ‘Our very respected former colleague Ben Wallace, one of the best defence secretaries in modern times, used his first intervention after leaving office to make almost this very point.
In the video, Robert Jenrick underlined his pledge to take the UK out of the ECHR
At the Tory party conference yesterday, Mr Jenrick doubled down on the accusationsÂ
Shadow home secretary James Cleverly, a former soldier, said UK forces did not ‘murder people’
‘He said that he would think it was difficult for the UK, our armed forces, to conduct a similar operation to the one that the United States did to kill or capture Osama bin Laden.
‘That’s wrong. 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.’
Before appearing on Newsnight, Mr Tugendhat called the claims an ‘extremely serious allegation’ and suggested people should not ‘comment on military matters you know nothing about’.
Mr Tugendhat told a conference fringe event: ‘It is an extremely serious allegation and without very specific examples it would be… irresponsible to do that.’
He added: ‘If you present a legitimate military threat to the United Kingdom, then we have under the laws of armed conflict today a legal ability and in fact a military capability to conduct operations to keep the British people safe.
‘I am afraid that is simply a fact, and if you don’t know it please don’t comment on military matters you know nothing about.’
Shadow home secretary James Cleverly, a former soldier, said UK forces did not ‘murder people’.
He told Sky News: ‘You’re going to have to ask Robert to justify that statement. That’s not something which I have heard.
Rivals for the Conservative top job have heaped pressure on Mr Jenrick (pictured) – seen by many as the favourite to win – to back up the allegation about the European Court of Human Rights
‘That’s not something which I’m not comfortable kind of repeating.
‘As I say, if Robert is able to justify that I think he should.
‘The British military always abide by international humanitarian law, the law of armed conflict.
‘We have, I was about to say some of the most, no, we have the most professional military in the world. Our military do not murder people.’
Former Conservative attorney general Dominic Grieve described the clip as ‘one of the most astonishing videos I have ever seen posted by a Conservative MP, let alone a candidate for the leadership’.
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.’
