Boris Johnson has called for a referendum on Britain\u2019s membership of the European convention on human rights, a move likely to increase pressure on those vying for the Conservative leadership<\/a> to follow suit.<\/p>\n The former prime minister told the Daily Telegraph there was a \u201cstrong case\u201d for a vote on the ECHR, which some Tories blame for hampering their efforts to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda.<\/p>\n Johnson, who is promoting his memoir, remains popular with many Conservative members, who will soon vote for the next party leader. Robert Jenrick, a frontrunner, is the only candidate to promise to take Britain out of the ECHR.<\/p>\n Johnson, asked if he would support a referendum on the ECHR, told the newspaper<\/a>: \u201cI would. I think it has changed. It has become much more legally adventurist. It\u2019s trying to second guess what national jurisdiction should do.\u201d He added: \u201cThere\u2019s a strong case for a proper referendum, a proper discussion about it because I\u2019m not certain that it actually provides people with protections that they wouldn\u2019t otherwise have.\u201d<\/p>\n Britain\u2019s membership of the convention has become one of the most hotly contested issues in the Tory leadership battle. Some Conservatives<\/a> have blamed the court in Strasbourg, which interprets the convention, for the previous government\u2019s failure to implement the Rwanda deportation scheme, even though it was blocked by the UK supreme court.<\/p>\n