Boris Johnson gave a passionate defence of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) only weeks before the Brexit referendum.
But the Prime Minister is now floating the idea of pulling out of the convention as he tries to force through plans to ship asylum seekers to Rwanda.
The first deportation flight was due to take off on Tuesday night but the plane was grounded at the last minute due to a legal ruling by European judges.
The bombshell injunction has stoked Tory calls for the UK to withdraw from the ECHR, a convention established after the Second World War which is separate to the EU.
Asked on Tuesday whether the UK would have to leave the Convention to avoid the kind of legal battle he faces over Rwandan deportations, Mr Johnson said: "Will it be necessary to change some laws to help us as we go along?
"It may very well be and all these options are under constant review."
But six years ago he gave his full backing the ECHR, which was drawn up under his hero Winston Churchill.
In may 2016, Mr Johnson told Vote Leave supporters at York Racecourse: "We wrote it and actually I am a supporter of it.
"I think it was one of the great things we gave to Europe. It was under Winston Churchill, it was a fine idea in the post-War environment.
"I am not against the European Convention or indeed the Court because it's very important for us - the judgements of the European Court of Human Rights do not have to be applied either by the UK courts or by the UK Parliament.”
He added: "Keep the European Convention, it's a fine thing. Get out of the EU."
The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) is an international court set up in 1959 to rule on applications of civil and political rights breaches laid out in the convention.
It is not an EU institution, which means the UK's relationship with the Strasbourg-based court is not affected by Brexit.
But Brexit-backing Tories have seized on the row over the Rwanda flights as an example of the need to take back more control from Europe.
Conservative MP Craig McKinlay said the ECHR had been "an annoyance and an irritation" to a succession of Tory PMs.
He told TimesRadio: "The ECHR was founded out of the rubble of the Second World War, when nations needed some guidance as to how to do things properly.
"I mean, realistically, the UK is not in that camp. It has the most admirable human rights record."
He admitted it would be complex to unravel but added: "The whole concept that you had a judge in chambers in Strasbourg, no oral evidence given has overturned a decision of this country's Supreme Court and then lower courts on the way I'm afraid is a situation that cannot continue."
Stoke on Trent North MP Jonathan Gullis, who is an aide to Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis, told constituents on Facebook : “It is clear that the ECHR prevented the flight from departing, after efforts in UK courts were exhausted.
"The ECHR has no place in the UK judicial system. The government needs to free itself from it entirely!”
