Jenrick reignites pledge by Tories to move embassy to Jerusalem
All four Conservative election hopefuls - Robert Jenrick, Kemi Badenoch, Tom Tugendhat and James Cleverly - speak at CFI reception at party conference
Lee Harpin is the Jewish News's political editor
Robert Jenrick has said the next Conservative election manifesto will include a pledge to move the UK’s embassy in Israel to Jerusalem if he is elected leader of the party.
Speaking alongside the three other leadership hopefuls at the Conservative Friends of Israel reception at the Tory conference in Jenrick vowed to build the embassy himself if “the foreign office or the civil servants don’t want to do it.”
Jenrick’s rival Kemi Badenoch was also applauded as she told the audience: “Israel is fighting a war for the West”.
Repeating comments made in a television interview on Sunday morning Badenoch stressed the need for “moral clarity” over Israel.
“People seem to get confused about what is going on, and sometimes we need to make clear who the bad guys are… Hezbollah,” she said.
As he spoke Tom Tugendhat hailed the significance of Israel’s blitz on the Hezbollah leadership over the past few days.
He also said the Conservatives should be “absolutely clear that we will always stand with democracies defending themselves” and hit out against Labour’s partial arms embargo on Israel.
“To those who say there should be an arms embargo on a country defending itself against terror, I say no,” he added.
In his speech James Cleverly, recalled his own time in government, as the horrendous events of October 7 took place.
“I never thought I would have to deal with something as horrific, and as painful as that,” he said.
Cleverly also recalled a conversation with Israeli President Isaac Herzog, shortly after October 7. Herzog noted Israel had lots of friends at that point, but realised that once the response in Gaza came only those truly supportive of the Jewish state would remain.
“No friendship is completely unqualified but when a friend has experienced something as brutal as the atrocities of 7 October you stand shoulder to shoulder with them,” Cleverly added.
Dressed in his now trademark Hamas Are Terrorists jumper, former immigration minister Jenrick said to loud applause: “We need to move the British embassy to Jerusalem, and I said it then, and I say it now tonight, if the Foreign Office or the civil servants don’t want to do it, I’ll build it myself.”
If he was made leader Jenrick added “the next Conservative Party manifesto would say, build the Embassy in Jerusalem, recognise Jerusalem as the legitimate capital of the state of Israel.”
Liz Truss had previously said she was looking at moving the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in 2022 during her short spell as PM.
In s further promise Jenrick said he would restart a move to give Israeli citizens the green light to freely enter the UK at airports E-gates
He claimed he came close to announcing the move in government “but unfortunately, it was blocked by others in government.”
Sunday’s evenings CFI reception in Birmingham again proved one of the busiest events of the day at the conference, but overall numbers in the Midlands were clearly down as the Conservatives sought to rebuild after the general election defeat.
Stephen Crabb, CFI’s former parliamentary chair made the introductory remarks before Shai Sjojat, nephew of murdered Gaza hostage Michel Nisenbaum gave a sombre account of the family’s ordeal.
When Israeli ambassador Tzipi Hotovely spoke she made clear her appreciation of the support from the Tories whether in government or not.
Andrew Michell delivered a well-received speech,Israel criticism has ‘crossed all sane boundaries’, Andrew Mitchell claims at an event attended by former atorney general Sir Michael Ellis and Lord Howard Leigh.
During a brief wait for Badenoch to arrive former trade secretary Liam Fox spoke, at one point praising Donald Trump for the Abraham Accords, suggesting he would have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize had he been a Democrat.
Elsewhere in her speech Badenoch claimed a group of independent MPs who stood on pro-Gaza tickets had been “elected on the back of sectarianism”.
The group, who mainly won seats from Labour MPs, have announced they will sit together in Parliament alongside former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
Badenoch described them as a “new threat”, telling the Conservative conference fringe event: “We must not pretend that these people are a minority.
“We have to fight this ideology that has no business in our country.”
She also said she was left “heartbroken” that talks with Israel over a free trade agreement had been halted as a result of October 7th.
She also repeated her criticism of the Labour government over the decision to announce partial arms suspensions.
CFI chair Hilda Worth was warmly applauded after delivering the closing remarks.
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