Robert Jenrick has been spotted wearing a jumper emblazoned with the words “Hamas Are Terrorists”.

The frontrunner in the Tory leadership contest, who has described himself as “the father of a Jewish family”, was pictured jogging in the sweatshirt in central London. The slogan could be clearly seen printed in green, white and red, the colours of the Palestinian flag.

Mr Jenrick has previously made a point of labelling Hamas terrorists, criticising the high-profile arrest of a counter-protester carrying a banner branding the group as a terrorist organisation in April. The 38-year-old demonstrator, who was holding a sign reading “Hamas is terrorist”, was pulled to the ground and handcuffed by officers after an incident took place close to a march through central London. Scotland Yard insisted the arrest was not related to the placard, and the man was de-arrested and released shortly afterwards.

Mr Jenrick also lashed out at the BBC for failing to use the term as a matter of fact in the aftermath of the October 7 massacre.

The broadcaster has said it will use the label when it is “attributed to others”, such as the UK Government, which has proscribed the group as a terrorist organisation. It has meant that Hamas have been variously described as “fighters” or “militants”, rather than “terrorists”, in the media, sparking a furious backlash from Jewish groups.

Mr Jenrick is not Jewish himself, but his wife is the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors. The couple’s three daughters are also being brought up in the Jewish faith.

A source for the Jenrick campaign said: “Anyone who thinks Hamas aren’t terrorists needs to give their head a wobble.”

Addressing a vigil of the Jewish community opposite Downing Street last year, when he was immigration minister, Mr Jenrick said to loud cheers that the BBC should “say it as it is”.

He also called for anyone who “valorised” the group to be “hunted down, arrested and prosecuted”.

Referring to the Oct 7 attacks, he said: “This was not political resistance. The events of the last 48 hours are not a story that needs two sides to be told. It was terror, fueled by anti-Jewish hatred and inflicted upon the Jewish people on one of their holiest days.

“This was not a barrage against military targets. It was the indiscriminate murder, rape and kidnapping of hundreds of completely innocent people with children as young as three and people old enough to have survived the Holocaust.”

Sir Ephraim Mirvis, the Chief Rabbi, also criticised media outlets who had not branded the attacks as acts of terror.

“If one doesn’t use the term ‘terrorist’, it is as if one is providing a window of opportunity for justification, and nothing can justify this,” he told Sky News last year.

“Can you imagine, God forbid, terrorists attacked Glastonbury and murdered 260 teenagers there. What would the British public say about anyone in the media that wouldn’t call the perpetrators terrorist?”

Mr Jenrick has also been critical of the policing of pro-Palestinian protests, arguing that it was “quite wrong” that demonstrators had been allowed to chant “Allahu Akbar”, which means God is great, without being arrested.

Speaking to Sky News last month, he said: “I have been very critical of police in the past, particularly around the attitude of some police forces to the protests we saw since October 7.

“I thought it was quite wrong that somebody could shout ‘Allahu Akbar’ on the streets of London and not be immediately arrested, project genocidal chants onto Big Ben and not be immediately arrested. That attitude is wrong, and I’ll always call out the police for it.”