Tory Backbencher Tom Tugendhat Launches Bid to Succeed Boris Johnson as Prime Minister

Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat takes part in a meeting of a conservative research group in Westminster hall in London, UK, on April 9, 2019. Tolga Akmen/AFP via Getty Images

Tom Tugendhat, a backbench Conservative MP who chairs the Foreign Affairs Committee in the House of Commons, has thrown his hat into the ring to succeed Boris Johnson as party leader and prime minister.

Tugendhat was the first contender to launch a leadership bid after Johnson announced his resignation as Tory party leader on July 7, triggering a contest among Conservative MPs for the top job.

The former soldier, who has never served in government, said he would offer the party a “fresh start.”

Writing in The Daily Telegraph, he said: “I am putting together a broad coalition of colleagues that will bring new energy and ideas to government and, finally, to bridge the Brexit divide that has dominated our recent history.”

“I have served before—in the military, and now in Parliament. Now I hope to answer the call once again as prime minister. It’s time for a clean start. It’s time for renewal,” he added.

‘Best Chance For a Fresh Start’

Though he has not served in any ministerial roles, Tugendhat has long been open about his leadership ambitions.

In an interview with Times Radio in January, when Boris Johnson’s position was already getting precarious as a result of the “partygate” scandal, Tugendhat said being prime minister “would be a huge privilege” and he didn’t understand why some of his Parliamentary colleagues were “coy” about wanting the top job.

“I don’t think you should be embarrassed to want to serve your country,” he said.

According to a Daily Mail report, centrist Tories were backing Tugendhat as they saw him as the “best chance for a fresh start.”

Damian Green, a veteran MP who served as the first secretary of state—effectively the deputy prime minister—under Theresa May, has openly backed Tugendhat.

He told the PA news agency on July 7: “We need a clean start, a fresh start, we need to get on with resetting the Conservative Party and resetting government more widely in this country so that it gets back to being properly run, observing the conventions, supporting the institutions that we have in this country.”

China Hawk

As chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Tugendhat is considered by some to be a China hawk in the House of Commons.

In April 2020, he founded the China Research Group of Conservative MPs alongside fellow Conservative MP Neil O’Brien. The group has called for a more critical foreign policy from the British government towards the Chinese Communist Party and has been critical of Huawei’s role in the UK’s 5G network, the Chinese regime’s COVID-19 disinformation campaign, its human rights abuses, and its foreign policy.

In March 2021, Tugendhat was among five Conservative MPs to be sanctioned by the Chinese regime for their vocal opposition to the human rights abuses against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang, northwest China.

PA Media contributed to this report.