The Conservative leadership hopeful Robert Jenrick has suggested he regrets ordering cartoon characters to be removed from the walls of a children’s asylum-seeker centre.
Asked about the incident on LBC radio, Jenrick initially defended the action, saying he was “very worried at the time and continue to be” about adults coming to the country illegally and posing as children.
But when pressed, he said: “I probably would have done things differently if I had my time again”, and that he would not do it again.
The Disney character murals were designed to welcome unaccompanied children who arrived on small boats in Kent and charities described the decision as “heartless”.
The comments appear to be part of a pitch to the centre of his party. In another interview on Friday morning he said he would be “delighted” for James Cleverly to join the shadow cabinet.
Cleverly, a centrist, was eliminated from the race on Wednesday, leaving the party with a choice between Kemi Badenoch and Jenrick, both on the populist right.
The Tory Reform Group, which represents many one nation Conservatives, said on Thursday it could not endorse either Badenoch or Jenrick.
Speaking on Radio 4’s Today programme, Jenrick said: “I’ve already said to James, who is a friend, someone I respect enormously, that I would be delighted for him to serve in the shadow cabinet, should he want to do so.”
Jenrick came just behind Badenoch in the most recent vote. Moderate Conservatives are said to be so dismayed at the remaining candidates that they are considering spoiling their ballots.
One Cleverly supporter claimed to the Telegraph that they had been told by a dozen members that they would now be putting their votes “in the bin”.
When asked about a report in the i newspaper suggesting Jenrick had told a Cleverly supporter he would rein in his rightwing polemic and promised a “turn to the centre”, the former immigration minister claimed: “I haven’t said that.” However, he then went on to speak about his desire to represent the “common ground” of politics.
“There are those who say that the Conservative party, were I to lead, it, is going to shift to the right. I actually don’t see these labels as at all relevant,” he said. “What I want to see is the Conservative party occupy what I describe as the common ground of British politics. Those are the things that millions of our fellow citizens care about. Most people do not consider themselves left or right.”
Asked if Cleverly could be in his cabinet if he did not support leaving the European convention on human rights, Jenrick sidestepped the question. He said: “I don’t think the point of difference is as big as perhaps you suggest it is,” adding that he would replace the ECHR with a British bill of rights.
Pushed again on whether Cleverly would have to support the ECHR exit to join the shadow cabinet, Jenrick said: “It would be one of our policies as a party.”
