Middle East crisis focus for UK Conservative Party leadership contestants

Former foreign secretary James Cleverly said Israel must act with 'professionalism and restraint'

Conservative leadership hopefuls have outlined their plans for tackling the Middle East crisis. AFP

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The Middle East crisis and Israel are at the forefront of the UK Conservative Party leadership race, with contestants setting out their plans to de-escalate the conflict.

It comes as members of the party gathered on Sunday for its annual conference, which is expected to be dominated by the search for a new leader following the resignation of former prime minister Rishi Sunak who stepped down following its election defeat in July.

The four candidates still in the race to replace him will spend the four-day conference in Birmingham speaking to as many party members as possible.

Former immigration minister Robert Jenrick, former business secretary Kemi Badenoch, former foreign secretary James Cleverly and former security minister Tom Tugendhat are vying for the leadership position.

On Sunday, the candidates outlined their plans for dealing with the Middle East situation in interviews with Sky News’ Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips.

Mr Cleverly has said Israel must act with “professionalism” and “restraint”.

Asked what message he would send to the Israelis, Mr Cleverly replied: “I would say to them what I’ve said to them already, when I was foreign secretary, when I met with President [Isaac] Herzog, when I met with Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu, Defence Minister [Yoav] Gallant, I’ve said that you do have the right to defend yourself, absolutely.

“They are surrounded by people who would do them harm, but when they do so, they have to abide by international law. They have to be conscious of civilian casualties. They have to act with professionalism and restraint. So I will be consistent, I’m always consistent.”

Mr Tugendhat said he would urge Iran to stand down its conflict with Israel if he were Tory leader.

Asked what he would be saying to the UK’s allies in the region, the former security minister instead spoke about Iran.

“I would be saying to Iran that this is no time for escalation, this is no time to be reinforcing your militias in the region and to be threatening democracies and countries around the region,” he said.

“Because the truth is we have seen countries like Jordan, like Israel, suffering under Iranian threats for many years and we have seen countries like Syria and Lebanon destroyed by Iran’s activities in the region over not just a few years but actually over two, three, four decades.”

He said he would work with the UK’s allies to stand up to “Iran’s pernicious influence”.

Mr Jenrick told the presenter that Israel is “doing as much as they reasonably can to try to limit the loss of civilian life”.

“Well, I don’t support everything that Israel is doing, and of course in a war, there will be mistakes made by any military, as indeed ours do in those situations,” he said.

“But I do think that they are doing as much as they reasonably can to try to limit the loss of civilian life.

“You have to remember that Israel is in a unique neighbourhood where it has on each side states that mean to do it harm and it’s important for us to support it in this difficult period.

“The way to end the conflict is obviously for the hostages to be released including the remaining British nationals who are still held in captivity.”

Ms Badenoch said she would be congratulating Benjamin Netanyahu if she were Tory leader, after Lebanese militant group Hezbollah’s leader was killed in an Israeli air strike.

“I would be congratulating Prime Minister Netanyahu. I think what they did was extraordinary,” she said.

“Israel is showing that it has moral clarity in dealing with its enemies and the enemies of the West as well.

“Hezbollah is a terrorist organisation, and I think that being able to remove the leader of Hezbollah as they did will create more peace in the Middle East.”

The candidates will make their final pitches from the conference stage on Wednesday, before Conservative members will eliminate two candidates in a vote the following week.

Party members across the country will then vote to pick a winner, who will be announced November 2.