The Tory MP Tom Tugendhat has become the first to say he would throw his hat into the ring if there were a Conservative party leadership contest.
The MP for Tonbridge and Malling and chair of the Commons foreign affairs committee said it would be a “huge privilege” to serve as prime minister, a job he once described as like winning the lottery.
The former soldier, 48, who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, said anyone who would be able to garner support from a group of colleagues should “go for it” and it was “up to all of us to put ourselves forward”.
The likelihood of Boris Johnson facing an imminent confidence vote over Downing Street parties that allegedly broke lockdown rules has stirred speculation about possible leadership candidates.
Tugendhat, a Tory centrist without ministerial experience, is considered a 16-1 outsider to succeed Johnson, but his name is increasingly coming up as a viable option. One former cabinet minister said: “Tom would be my first choice.”
Tugendhat told Times Radio: “I think I’m making it pretty clear that I think that it’s up to all of us to put ourselves forward. And it’s up to the electorate – in the first case parliamentary colleagues, and in the second case the party – to choose.”
He said he had not been canvassing support, but “of course you should have a go”.
“I think it’s a position of absolute integrity to say that of course you should offer yourself to the electorate if you think you can do it. Of course you should talk to colleagues and see if you can get a group together, and if you can get a group together you should go for it,” he said.
Pressed on whether he would still like to be PM after expressing an interest in the past, he said: “It would be a huge privilege. It’s one of those questions that I know many people ask and some people, some of my colleagues, are coy about and I don’t understand why.
“I don’t think you should be embarrassed to want to serve your country. I was very proud to serve my country in the armed forces and I got to the highest rank I could so that I could have the best effect that I could. And I was very proud to serve as a diplomat around the world.”
Tugendhat has an important ally in Michael Gove, the levelling-up secretary, but he is less popular on the party’s right. The chief whip, Mark Spencer, has reportedly nicknamed him “Tom Tugendtwat”.
He supported the remain campaign, but his loyal voting record on Brexit matters under Theresa May and Johnson and his opposition to stricter Covid measures could net him some support from rightwingers.
Whether Tugendhat would end up as “the Rory Stewart of the race”, as one MP put it – a reference to the former development secretary’s failed leadership bid in 2019 – his motivation seems to be shatterproof. He told Politics Home: “I will serve at whatever level I’m asked to.”
