Tugendhat says its ‘upsetting’ that Jenrick used footage in campaign video of soldier he served with who died soon after

Published

9 months ago

October 2, 2024

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Conservative leadership hopeful Tom Tugendhat has said it is “upsetting” his rival Robert Jenrick used footage of a soldier he served with in Afghanistan, who died soon after, in a campaign video.

Mr Jenrick released a video on Monday arguing the UK needs to leave the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) because, among other reasons, he claimed it is forcing the SAS into “killing rather than capturing” terrorists for fear of detainees being released under European human rights law.

Footage of British soldiers shooting weapons featured in the video with their faces blurred.

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Mr Tugendhat, who is part of the final four standing to be Tory leader, said he knew one of the soldiers in the video from his time in the army in Afghanistan.

The former army officer, who served in Iraq as well, told BBC Newsnight: “What’s particularly upsetting is that video is using a piece of footage of some of the people I served with, one of whom there died shortly after that film was taken in an accident, and is not able to defend himself from the accusation that is effectively being levelled against him.

“I do not think we should be using footage of our special forces in operations.

“I would not put that video out. In fact, I’d pull it down.”

Mr Tugendhat, who was security minister in the previous Tory government, told Sky News on Tuesday Mr Jenrick’s comments about the SAS were “wrong” and showed a “fundamental misunderstanding of military operations and the law of unarmed conflict”.

He told Sky News: “I’m extremely concerned that such words should not be seen in any way to encourage people to take any action, other than to surrender to British forces when asked to do so.”

At a fringe event at the Conservative Party conference on Tuesday, he urged Mr Jenrick to not “comment on military matters you know nothing about”.

However, Mr Jenrick doubled down on his accusations, telling the conference he really meant what he said.

“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,” he told Tory members.

Mr Jenrick’s team told Sky News a Telegraph interview with former defence secretary Ben Wallace from September 2023, which Mr Jenrick based his comments on, “speaks for itself”.

Entitled “Human rights laws are protecting terrorists”, Mr Wallace said that “because of international treaties such as the European Convention on Human Rights defence secretaries are being forced to choose between killing individuals, generally by drone, or leaving them to continue plotting”.

He said the UK was often “forced into taking lethal action” due to the “lunacy of being unable to render people across borders or arrest people in countries whose police forces are unacceptable”.

Mr Wallace did not directly say the European Court would set terrorists free if they were captured but said the issue was with rendition treaties – where international law meant missions that would require the extrajudicial transfer of a suspect from another country to the UK were blocked.

He said he dealt “with such cases” while he was defence secretary.

Wednesday is the final day of the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham, which has seen the four remaining Tory leadership candidates put their case to MPs and members.

MPs will vote to cut the list down to two, then members will vote and a leader will be announced on 2 November.

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SEC approves conversion of Grayscale’s large-cap crypto fund into ETF

Published

2 hours ago

July 1, 2025

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<div>SEC approves conversion of Grayscale's large-cap crypto fund into ETF</div>

Grayscale has slowly narrowed the arbitrage opportunities on its crypto trusts by converting them into exchange-traded funds.

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Chief rabbi condemns BBC’s ‘mishandled response’ to anti-IDF chanting at Glastonbury – as Bob Vylan issue new statement

Published

4 hours ago

July 1, 2025

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Chief rabbi condemns BBC's 'mishandled response' to anti-IDF chanting at Glastonbury - as Bob Vylan issue new statement

The chief rabbi has described the BBC’s response to anti-IDF chanting at Glastonbury as “belated and mishandled” – as the punk-rap duo involved, Bob Vylan, said the UK government needed to talk about its “criminal inaction”.

Sir Ephraim Mirvis said “vile Jew-hatred” had been aired at the Somerset music festival and it was a “time of national shame”.

Confidence in the BBC’s “ability to treat antisemitism seriously” has been brought to a “new low”, he said in a post on X, adding that “outright incitement to violence and hatred” appeared to be acceptable if it was couched as “edgy political commentary”.

Ordinary people had not only failed to see incitement “for what it is” but had cheered it, chanted it, and celebrated it, he said. “Toxic Jew-hatred is a threat to our entire society,” he added.

Bob Vylan, posting a new statement on Instagram on Tuesday, said they were “not for the death of Jews, Arabs or any other race or group of people”.

Rather, they were for the “dismantling of a violent military machine” – the Israel Defence Forces.

Bob Vylan chanted “death to the IDF” at Glastonbury. As many as 95% of the IDF are thought to be Jewish.

In their statement, the group said they were a “distraction from the story” and that whatever “sanctions” they received would also be a distraction.

Their US visas have been revoked and United Talent Agency, their US representatives, have dropped them.

Referring to the war in Gaza, they claimed the UK government does not want them to ask “why they remain silent in the face of this atrocity”, “why they aren’t doing more to stop the killing” and “feed the starving”.

They added: “The more time they talk about Bob Vylan, the less time they spend answering for their criminal inaction.

“We are being targeted for speaking up. We are not the first, we will not be the last, and if you care for the sanctity of human life and freedom of speech, we urge you to speak up, too.”

It has emerged that Tim Davie, the BBC’s director-general, was at Glastonbury when the duo led chants of “Death to the IDF” which were broadcast live.

The prime minister’s spokesman, asked if the PM had confidence in Mr Davie, said Sir Keir Starmer had “confidence in the BBC”, adding: “The position of the director-general is a matter for the BBC’s board.”

Speaking in the Commons, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said “accountability” was important and it was something she had “impressed upon the BBC leadership”.

She added: “When you have one editorial failure, it’s something that must be gripped. When you have several, it becomes a problem of leadership.”

The cabinet minister said she’d called Mr Davie after Bob Vylan’s set had been broadcast to find out why it had aired, and why the feed had not been cut.

“I expect answers to these questions without delay,” she said.

Meanwhile Dame Caroline Dinenage, chair of the culture, media and sport committee, has written to Mr Davie in relation to the corporation’s Glastonbury coverage.

The committee has said the letter asks about editorial and decision-making processes and whether consideration was given to broadcasting with a delay. It also asks about staffing levels at the festival and contingency planning.

Avon and Somerset Police has begun a criminal investigation and is reviewing footage of both Bob Vylan and Kneecap’s performances at Glastonbury.

The force said a senior detective had been appointed – and it had been contacted by people from around the world.

“We… recognise the strength of public feeling,” it said.

During Kneecap’s set, one member suggested starting a “riot” outside his bandmate’s forthcoming court appearance, before clarifying that he meant “support”. Liam Og O hAnnaidh, also known as Mo Chara, is charged with a terror offence.

Bob Vylan had been due to tour the US before their visas were revoked.

US deputy secretary of state Christopher Landau said action had been taken “in light of their hateful tirade at Glastonbury, including leading the crowd in death chants”.

“Foreigners who glorify violence and hatred are not welcome visitors to our country,” he added.

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During Bob Vylan’s set, the duo performed in front of a screen that showed several messages, including one that claimed Israel’s actions in Gaza amounted to “genocide”.

The war in Gaza began after Hamas militants attacked Israel on 7 October 2023 and killed 1,200 people and took about 250 hostage.

Israel’s offensive in Gaza has led to the deaths of more than 56,500 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants.

Media watchdog Ofcom has said the BBC “clearly has questions to answer” over the live stream from Glastonbury.

A BBC spokesperson said: “The director-general was informed of the incident after the performance and at that point he was clear it should not feature in any other Glastonbury coverage.”

The broadcaster respects freedom of expression but “stands firmly against incitement to violence”, they said.

They added: “The antisemitic sentiments expressed by Bob Vylan were utterly unacceptable and have no place on our airwaves…

“The team were dealing with a live situation, but with hindsight we should have pulled the stream during the performance. We regret this did not happen.”