I was a Parliamentary candidate in 2019, have served as a local councillor since 2014, and have been a party activist well before that. So I know that while we may be down for now, our party is not out.
In defeat, it would be easy to accept Labour’s partisan characterisation of the last 14 years, but our record in government – during some of the most challenging of times – speaks for itself.
Our work stabilising the economy after Labour last left office meant that we could weather the pandemic in a way that many Western countries could not, keeping people and businesses afloat. We made sure everyone was kept warm when Vladimir Putin turned off the gas, and we rightly led the world in defence of Ukraine. And we fixed Labour’s mess on education, with our children rocketing up global league tables.
We had many successes, yet made too many missteps. We couldn’t defy political gravity and sadly lost 200 great Conservative MPs as a result.
After the election, non-political friends naively tried to comfort me with variations of: “Labour will mess up eventually and you’ll get back, 10 years will fly by before you know it”. That lit a fire in me. I want us back in power in five years, not 10. Rebuilt, revitalised and ready to help our fellow citizens in a way that only the Conservative Party can.
If we truly want to win in 2029, then who we pick to be our next party leader is of the utmost importance.
We have an opportunity to not only elect a new leader, but audition someone who the wider public could vote in as our next Prime Minister. We have to vote for someone who will take us back to Downing Street.
That means choosing a candidate that will appeal not only to those who voted Reform, but lifelong Conservative voters who this time lent their support to Labour and the Liberal Democrats. Prioritising just one of these groups isn’t a viable political strategy.
We need a candidate who can draw a clear line under the economic mistakes and immoral allegations that plagued previous leaders. Someone honourable, with integrity, and who the public will find instinctively trustworthy.
We need someone who can unite our wonderful party, no matter the ideological wing you identify with, who can lead us to victory under a common sense Conservative banner.
Of the many talented candidates before us, I believe that person is Tom Tugendhat.
Tugendhat has proven that he has no time for infighting. He stands for traditional, conservative values and means it. He will unite us, rebuild the party, and then together we’ll win.
There’s a diverse range of conservative big beasts already supporting him. Who else can boast of having Brexit hardman Steve Baker and One Nation chair Damian Green jointly backing them? Or the support of low-tax campaigner Jake Berry? Tom unites everyone because they see what the public will see: that he believes what he says, and says what he believes. A decorated veteran with public service running through his core, he stands for everyone who carries forward the traditional, conservative beliefs that have made us the most successful democratic party in the world.
Our country needs us to be unified now more than ever. The Labour fox is now in the governmental henhouse. In the month since they took office, they have already spent tens of billions on vanity projects like big-state GB Energy, the nationalisation of train companies is about to begin, and barely a month into office they’ve already broken their election promise not to raise taxes.
Uniting is the first step to rebuilding our party. But, this cannot be a purely ideological exercise. It means nothing if once we rally our great party behind a leader we fail to do anything with it. Tom has never been afraid to make difficult choices and lead from the front. Even from his early days in Parliament, he was there, warning us about Russia and China. He wasn’t afraid to stand up for what he believes in, like his moving 2021 Commons speech on Joe Biden’s ill-conceived withdrawal from Afghanistan or standing up to our government’s proposed increase in National Insurance. It’s that sort of courageous, experienced leadership that our country needs.
A leader who can unite our party, proves he can deliver and sticks by his promises is the best candidate to rebuild trust with the public. People are angry at our party for failing to deliver and breaking our word. Yet there is no love for Labour. Keir Starmer is the most unpopular Leader of the Opposition to ever become Prime Minister, and his ratings are already rapidly declining. Voters felt we could no longer deliver for them, change that perception, and all things become possible.
The public already knows Tugendhat will deliver for them and is a man who they can trust. As recent Savanta polling shows, Tom is the most popular Conservative leadership contender among the public and 2024 Conservative voters. He is, I think, best placed to take our party’s message forward and reignite the Conservative spirit this nation has always held dear.
So, when the time comes, we need to be clear-headed and remember three things: unity, deliverability, and trustworthiness. We know these are the three qualities our leader needs to rebuild our party. Tugendhat embodies these values, and that is why I believe he is the right choice for us.
