A day after Boris Johnson succumbed to the inevitable and resigned following a deluge of resignations, popular Tory MP Tom Tugendhat wasted little time in declaring his intention to enter the race to become his successor.
Writing in The Daily Telegraph, Mr Tugendhat, 49, 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.”
Attorney general Suella Braverman had already signalled her own intention to run during a Wednesday night interview with ITV’s Robert Peston before Mr Johnson had even gone, downfall-instigator Rishi Sunak has since followed suit.
Campaigns are likewise expected from other party big beasts including new chancellor Nadhim Zahawi, foreign secretary Liz Truss, ex-health secretary Sajid Javid, defence secretary Ben Wallace and perhaps Steve Baker, Jeremy Hunt, Grant Shapps and Penny Mordaunt.
Tory MP Damian Green has already come out in support of Mr Tugendhat’s candidacy, agreeing: “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.”
Mr Tugendhat, who also indicated his readiness to mount a leadership challenge back in January when the Partygate scandal first looked like engulfing Mr Johnson, was born in London on 27 June 1973, the son of High Court judge Sir Michael Tugendhat.
He attended St Paul’s School in the capital before enrolling at the University of Bristol to study theology and undertaking a Master’s degree in Islamic studies at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, later learning Arabic in Yemen.
He also speaks fluent French and holds dual citizenship, both his mother Blandine and wife Anissia being from France.
Mr Tugendhat was commissioned in the Territorial Army in July 2003 as a second lieutenant and was quickly transferred to the British Army Intelligence Corps to work with the Royal Marines during the Iraq War, capitalising on his language skills.
He subsequently returned to a job in the City of London before being called upon to return to Iraq to help with the economic reconstruction of the country after the fall of dictator Saddam Hussein.
By 2005, he was working for the Foreign Office in Afghanistan on the development of its National Security Council, advising then-president Hamid Karzai as well as the governor of Helmand Province.
After two years, he returned to the UK before being redeployed to Helmand with his former Royal Marines unit, completing his final patrol in 2009.
Back in the UK, he served as a military assistant to chief of the defence staff Sir Graham Stirrup before leaving the Army in July 2013, having risen to the rank of lieutenant colonel.
He has been MP for Tonbridge and Malling in Kent since 2015 and became the youngest-ever chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee in 2017, where he has acquired a reputation for being something of a hawk.
Mr Tugendhat has expressed strong support for Israel, praised Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, called out Russian money laundering in London and denounced the Nato withdrawal from Afghanistan as a “major strategic mistake”.
Condemning the fall of Kabul to the Taliban last summer, he won a round of applause after an emotional speech in the House of Commons drawing on his own experience of soldiering in the Middle East in which he famously declared: “This doesn’t need to be defeat, but right now it damn well feels like it.”
He co-founded and remains co-chair of the China Research Group of MPs, which calls for greater caution in Britain’s dealings with the rising eastern superpower.
Mr Tugendhat is also famous for his opposition to Brexit – putting him at odds with vehement Leavers like Ms Braverman, for one – although he has stopped short of joining Remainer colleague Tobias Ellwood’s call for the UK to rejoin the European Single Market.
