UK politics live: Top Tories turn on Jenrick after ‘astonishing’ claims SAS are ‘killing terrorists’

Tom Tugendhat garnered a large crowd in the middle of the exhibition hall at the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham, handing out caps which read ‘I’m a Tugend-hat’ to supporters, my colleague Millie Cooke reports.

The Tory leadership contender addressed the cheering crowd before handing out the ‘Team Tom’ branded merchandise.

Former business secretary Jacob-Rees Mogg has said the Tories were too influenced by focus groups and opinion polls in government.

“The answer I was often given by people in government at the time was that lockdowns were very popular,” he told The Telegraph.

“They were getting 60, 70, 80% popularity ratings in the opinion polls. But you mustn’t believe those opinion polls, they’re basically nonsense.

“People want to give the worthy answer. You’ve got to recognise that government by focus group, government by opinion poll, doesn’t work. You need to govern by what you believe in ...

“That’s what Margaret Thatcher did and I think we were much too seduced by government by focus group, government by opinion poll.”

In the run up to the 2024 general election, most opinion polls predicted Mr Mogg to lose his North East Somerset seat. He did, in fact, lose his seat to Labour’s Dan Norris.

From James Cleverly cups and Kemi Badenoch cola bottles, to Tom Tugendhat fake tan and Robert Jenrick baseball hats.

These are just some of the Conservative leadership candidate’s merchandise available at the party conference in Birmingham.

The Independent took a closer look at the products on offer from the four hopefuls wanting to replace Rishi Sunak as leader.

The contest is set to go from four to two in the next fortnight, and then members will have their final choice in the run-off.

While the merchandise may not truly swing votes, it does give an indication of the strength of each campaign team.

Watch the full video here.

Read the full report from my colleague Millie Cooke below:

Robert Jenrick has doubled down on his widely criticised claim that UK special forces are “killing rather than capturing terrorists” after a Conservative Party leadership rival accused him of misunderstanding the law of armed conflict.

The frontrunner in the race to replace Rishi Sunak defended as “absolutely correct” his assertion that the British military is taking lethal action because of fears that European laws would free any detained assailants.

Asked on Tuesday whether he could back up the claim, he insisted he could not “elaborate on particular cases”.

Leadership rival Tom Tugendhat said he was “extremely concerned” at Mr Jenrick’s remarks, while fellow contender James Cleverly urged him to justify his statement in media appearances on Tuesday morning.

Mr Jenrick drew condemnation from across the political divide over his claim in a promotional video for his leadership bid that special forces are “killing rather than capturing terrorists because our lawyers tell us that if they are caught the European court will set them free”.

A prominent businessman has named himself as the source of a £75,000 donation to Robert Jenrick amid transparency concerns over the ultimate origin of the funds.

Entrepreneur Phillip Ullmann said he gave the money to the Conservative Party leadership frontrunner through Spott Fitness, a fitness coaching app provider which he said is “part of my family’s group of businesses”.

However, Mr Ullmann’s name does not currently appear on the list of people with significant control in Spott Fitness at Companies House, leaving a question mark over his formal links to the organisation.

The UK elections watchdog has said it is “considering carefully” a letter from Labour demanding an investigation into the source of the money after Mr Jenrick received three donations of £25,000 from the business in July.

Its latest accounts show it has no employees, has never made a profit and has more than £300,000 of debts, and in January it registered a loan from Centrovalli, a company registered in the British Virgin Islands.

James Cleverly and Robert Jenrick will face a grilling from Conservative members on the main stage of the party conference during its penultimate day.

The two hopefuls to succeed Rishi Sunak will follow in the footsteps of rivals Kemi Badenoch and Tom Tugendhat, who were questioned by members on Monday.

The Birmingham conference, a subdued affair in which Tory members are seeking to regroup after their crippling election defeat, was overshadowed by global events as it headed into its third day.

On Monday, Ms Badenoch and her campaign team continued to grapple with the aftermath of her suggestion that statutory maternity leave pay was part of an “excessive” function of tax.

Speaking on the main conference stage, she compared her remarks 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.

Read the full report from my colleague Archie Mitchell below: