Robert Jenrick’s special forces claim deemed ‘ridiculous’ by Mark Billingham

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Louise Thomas

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SAS: Who Dares Wins star Mark “Billy” Billingham has said Robert Jenrick’s claim that the special forces are “killing rather than capturing” terrorists is “absolutely ridiculous”.

Tory leadership hopeful Mr Jenrick continues to be dogged by backlash from his opponents after claiming in a promotional video that UK special forces are killing terrorists for fear of detainees being released under European human rights law.

Speaking on Channel 5’s Jeremy Vine show on Thursday, Billingham, a decorated military leader, said: “I think he’s (Jenrick’s) disgusting, absolutely disgusting.

“Our job’s hard enough, we need people supporting us, not bad mouthing us.

“That is ridiculous. That statement is absolutely ridiculous.”

After Vine paraphrased Mr Jenrick’s statement, Billingham added: “That’s absolute nonsense. That would never, ever be said amongst our troops. Never.”

Asked on Tuesday whether he could back up his claims about the special forces, Mr Jenrick insisted he could not “elaborate on particular cases” and instead cited comments made by ex-defence secretary Ben Wallace to the Telegraph.

Fellow Conservative leadership candidate Tom Tugendhat said it was “upsetting” that his rival Mr Jenrick used footage of a soldier he served with in Afghanistan, who has subsequently died, in the widely-criticised campaign video.

Speaking to BBC Newsnight, Mr Tugendhat claimed he knew one soldier who had featured in the footage and said: “I would not put that video out. In fact I’d pull it down.”

After days of trying to persuade members and colleagues in Birmingham, the Tory leadership candidates, who also include James Cleverly and Kemi Badenoch, will be whittled down from four to two next week by the parliamentary party before the membership gets the final say.

Newark MP Mr Jenrick is the front-runner in the contest.