Six of the silliest things said at Tory conference

Robert Jenrick, Tom Tugendhat, Kemi Badenoch and James Cleverly are all in the running for the top job, and as such are conducting as many media appearances as they can in order to garner support.

However, this increased exposure isn’t always a good thing, with an array of gaffes and comments from several of them that have already been pounced upon by their rivals.

With that said, here are the six silliest things said at Tory conference in Birmingham.....so far.

European law stops British soldiers capturing terrorists

Far and away the most serious gaffe of party conference is Mr Jenrick claiming that UK special forces are “killing rather than capturing terrorists”.

The frontrunner in the race says that the British military is taking lethal action because of fears that European laws would free any detained assailants.

Refusing to name any specific cases or back up his claim, Mr Jenrick instead answered “these cases are not things that any minister or foreign minister can speak about.”

Mr Tugendhat called his comments “concerning”, while Mr Cleverly demanded an explanation.

Former Conservative attorney general Dominic Grieve described the clip as “one of the most astonishing videos I have ever seen posted by a Conservative MP, let alone a candidate for the leadership”.

A Star of David at every airport

Mr Jenrick also claimed the Star of David should be displayed at every point of entry to the UK to show “we stand with Israel”.

He said: “A small thing that I fought for when I was the immigration minister was to ensure that every Israeli citizen could enter our country through the e-gate, through the easy access, so that at every airport and point of entry to our great country, there is the Star of David there as a symbol that we support Israel, we stand with Israel. We are friends and allies of Israel, and Israelis are welcome in our country.”

This idea conflates the Star of David, a Jewish symbol, with the country of Israel, and one many feel does not represent their Jewishness. Also, if Britain starts putting up signs of their allies, when does it end?

Liz Truss would have done better at the general election

The former Prime Minister was asked during a fringe event Q&A if she thought a Tory party led by her rather than Rishi Sunak would have performed better in the general election.

Despite crashing the economy and historically low approval ratings, Liz Truss insisted “Yes, I do”.

She added: “Because when I was in No 10, Reform was holding at 3 per cent. By the time we got to the election, I think they got 18 per cent because we promised change that we didn’t deliver.”

Showing no interest in being held accountable, Ms Truss later ignored journalists trying to ask her questions at the event.

Maternity pay is ‘excessive’

Once the favourite for the leadership, Ms Badenoch bravely went after those who have had it too good for too long - new parents.

Asked again if she thought maternity pay was excessive, the shadow communities secretary replied: “I think it’s gone too far the other way, in terms of general business regulation. We need to allow businesses, especially small businesses, to make more of those decisions.”

Ms Badenoch later insisted her comments had been taken out of context, which is a textbook non-denial denial.

Lock them up!

Ms Badenoch also raised eyebrows after saying she believes up to 10 per cent of civil servants are so bad they should be in prison.

The leadership hopeful very kindly insisted she did not want to criticise all civil servants, but claimed there were a few who were obstructive.

She said: “There’s about 5-10 per cent of them who are very, very bad. You know, should-be-in-prison bad.

“Leaking official secrets, undermining their ministers, agitating. I had some of it in my department, usually union-led, but most of them actually want to do a good job. And the good ones are very frustrated by the bad ones.”

Tom Tugend-pun

Far and away the most repeat offender at conference is Mr Tugendhat, who has used an array of puns on his own name.

Whether it’s calling it “Tomference”, or offering merch including “Tugend-hats” or “TUGEND-TAN”, which is simply Tugendhat themed fake tan, the Tonbridge MP clearly has come up with the pun first and worked backwards.