Cleverly Refuses to Back Badenoch’s Position on Leaving ECHR – Guido Fawkes

LISTEN: Cleverly Refuses to Back Badenoch’s Position on Leaving ECHR

On Cleverly’s first morning round back on the Tory front bench the new Shadow Housing Secretary has refused to back his party leader’s stated position on the ECHR. Who could have seen this coming?

Badenoch said at the beginning of June that she was “increasingly of the view” that the UK should leave the convention. Cleverly declined to back that on the Today Programme:

“Well, she’s commissioned a review by the Shadow Attorney General and it’s it’s right that we look at this… I completely understand her position on that… What I’m saying is she has commissioned a review and I’m going to wait to see… I’ve said what I believe.“

Pressed numerous times Cleverly repeated his previous claim that “leaving the  European Convention on Human Rights will not necessarily be a silver bullet and we need to look at the wider implications… If the review sets out how we can make that work, then of course that becomes party policy. I will completely understand that and I will abide by that.”

Cleverly has been strident in his opposition to an ECHR withdrawal. Contrary lines already springing up in Badenoch’s reshuffled team…