Boris Johnson has joined calls for a referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Court of Human Rights.
The former prime minister, who is currently plugging his new memoir ‘Unleashed’, told the Daily Telegraph there was a strong case to give voters a say on the ECHR, which critics say prevents Britain from having full control of immigration.
Johnson suggested the ECHR did not “provide people with protections that they wouldn’t otherwise have”.
The UK’s membership is a key Tory leadership issue with Robert Jenrick saying the party must back an exit to survive. E
Earlier this week he also said he was open to Johnson being in his shadow cabinet.
The ECHR was drafted in the aftermath of the Second World War and the Holocaust in an attempt to protect the people from the State, make sure the atrocities committed would never be repeated, and safeguard fundamental rights.
The United Kingdom played an important role in the birth of the ECHR, with British lawyers integral to the drafting of the text, and Winston Churchill a key early advocate.
The ECHR guaranteed people’s fundamental human rights in law for the first time. The rights we are all accustomed to come from the UK signing the Convention.
Related: ‘Memoirs of a clown’: Reviews flood in for ‘Unleashed by Boris Johnson’