Rishi Sunak has resisted demands to commit to leaving the European Convention on Human Rights.
Some Conservatives on the right of the party have called for the UK to pull out of the treaty, arguing it has stopped flights carrying asylum seekers taking off for Rwanda.
However, the pledge was not included in the Conservative manifesto, which was published on Tuesday.
Instead it said: “If we are forced to choose between our security and the jurisdiction of a foreign court, including the ECtHR [European Court of Human Rights], we will always choose our security.”
The statement steers a careful course, leaving the door open to potentially leaving the treaty in the future but not committing to this.
Asked why he had not been “bold” and promised to pull out of the ECHR, Mr Sunak repeated the promise in his party’s manifesto.
He added: “I’ve been clear throughout that I believe our that our plan is compliant with all our international obligations.”
The ECHR was established in 1950 by a number of countries including the UK.
The treaty, which sets out the rights and freedoms people are entitled to in the 46 signatory countries, is overseen by the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
It is separate to the European Union – so the UK remained part of both after Brexit.
Earlier this year MPs on the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee were told the government would knowingly breach the Good Friday Agreement peace agreement if it withdrew from the ECHR.
The committee wrote to the government to say Northern Ireland was often overlooked in the ECHR debate despite the fact the convention is “embedded” in the agreement and is part of Northern Irish law.
