Tory Civil War as Cleverly refuses to dismantle ECHR oversight in UK
James Cleverly on his G7 summit in Japan at Foreign Minister’s meeting
In an exclusive interview with Express.co.uk, Mr Cleverly rejected calls by many Conservative MPs to withdraw from the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg which has frustrated attempts to tackle the migrant crisis. He also spoke about his clashes with Home Secretary Suella Braverman over the decision to house illegal migrants awaiting deportation in a base in his constituency.
The intervention has come as MPs on the right of his party have told the Daily Express they will push for leaving the ECHR to be in the next manifesto.
They also have just won a deal with Rishi Sunak for the ECHR to be blocked from making decisions on illegal immigration in the Bill going through parliament.
A source close to Mr Cleverly said he was “not agitated” by the deal.
He has though already annoyed MPs on the right by refusing to close off relations with China.
But the minister appears to be ready for a clash with the right of his party.
Mr Cleverly attacked Tory MPs on the right of his party for underestimating British influence in being able to change and reform institutions.
He also warned that the UK would end up being in a small club with countries like Russia if it withdrew from the ECHR.
He said: “The group of European countries which are not part of the ECHR is a small club. I am not convinced it is a club we want to be part of.”
He went on: “That is not suggesting that the implementation of European human rights, the interpretation of human rights by judges that is something I think has worked well.
“But we can change stuff. It is my job as Foreign Secretary to get stuff changed. Stuff that used to work but is not working well, we need to amend it and update it.
“We change laws all the time and in terms of our international agreements, these things get amended and changed all the time.”
Pressure is mounting within the Conservative Party and from critics like Nigel Farage that Brexit will not be complete until the ECHR’s jurisdiction is ended.
The issue came to a head last year when an unidentified judge in the ECHR made a decision to block the Rwanda deportation program without hearing evidence from the UK until a final decision on its legality could be made.
Members of the influential rightwing Common Sense Group led by Sir John Hayes have since been pushing an amendment to the Illegal Immigration Bill to have the ECHR blocked from being allowed to make legally binding decisions on immigration issues.
It is understood that the Home Secretary privately supports the calls as well as demands for the next Tory manifesto to have a pledge to leave the ECHR altogether.
But Mr Cleverly claimed that those MPs underestimated the UK’s influence in the world.
He said: “I think some people under-estimate how much influence we have on the world stage.
“Sometimes when some people say we have got to leave the ECHR, what I hear is they think we don’t have the standing or the authority or influence to make changes or amendments that need to be made. I don’t buy into that. We are a serious player on the world stage.
“Some of the issues we are facing are also being faced by everybody else.
“We need to make sure that everything, not just the ECHR, is fit for purpose. But we are not passive recipients. We have influence.”
He also spoke about his clashes with Ms Braverman over the decision to use the former RAF base in his constituency for illegal migrants.
Mr Cleverly said: “Being realistic, if I asked any MP would you prefer to have an asylum centre in your constituency or not, everyone would say ‘I would prefer not to.’ So, I don’t think I am any different to anybody else.
“If I said to them, do we need to get this sorted, everyone of them would say ‘yes we do.’
“The conversation we had this morning with not just our European friends about illegal migration and how we have got to resolve this collectively that’s all important.
“I completely 110 percent subscribe to the fact that we need to break the business model of the smuggling gangs; we need to get our system sorted because the international system was designed for an era when international travel was incredibly difficult.
“Refugees moved a short distance for a relatively short period of time.
“What has happened now is that the world has changed radically and some of those well intentioned legislation has just proven to be not fit for the modern challenges.”
He added: “Ultimately, I want to get to a position where we don’t need facilities like the one proposed in Wethersfield. That’s the sweet spot. That’s what we are working on, so we sort applications quickly and properly.”
Mr Cleverly insisted that he and Ms Braverman are on the same page but have different jobs to do in government.
“Suella and I are very, very long standing friends. It is her job to protect the country and bring our policy on our border and she takes her job very, very seriously.
“It is my job to build mutually beneficial relationships and when there are potential pressures in those two functions we negotiate internally. That’s how the government works.”
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