Top Tory reveals why he is backing Tom Tugendhat to 'put the party back together' as leader
20 July 2024, 12:12
A senior Conservative has revealed why he is backing Tom Tugendhat to be the next party leader.
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Both Steve Baker, a prominent Brexiteer, and Damian Green, a former Cabinet minister from the moderate wing of the party, endorsed shadow security minister Mr Tugendhat in a newspaper article.
The pair lost their seats in the General Election, but remain influential in Conservative circles.
Speaking to LBC, Mr Baker said: "[Mr Tugendhat's] a man of great professionalism and integrity and I think when you look at what's gone wrong for the Conservative party there's not only been a lack of unity but a lack of shared purpose and that shared purpose should be liberty under the rule of law and voluntary community and so on."
He went on to say: "He's very sound on China, on Russia, he declined to support the National Insurance rise and also he voted with me against vaccine passports so I know it's confounding people I'm supporting him but I genuinely believe he is a sound Conservative and I also believe he has the best strategic brain and the best leadership capabilities to put the Tory party back together."
Read more: Priti Patel to run for Tory leadership, sources say
The race to be the new leader of the opposition has not begun yet, but Mr Tugendhat, shadow communities secretary Kemi Badenoch, shadow home secretary James Cleverly, former ministers Suella Braverman, Priti Patel and Robert Jenrick are all thought to be getting bids ready.
Mr Baker and Mr Green urged MPs not to turn to the "hard Right" in response to the pasting the Conservative Party received at the General Election.
They wrote in the Telegraph: "We ought to choose to transcend old divisions of Leave versus Remain, One Nation versus Right. We cannot spend the next five years in recriminations over the past 10. We cannot spend our time in opposition seeking to expel one wing of the party or another."
They added: "Some colleagues' tone often meant that we were cast as a 'hard-Right' party or the 'nasty' party, leading voters to turn against us or to whichever party in their area was most likely to rid them of us," they warned.
"That won't do. Our leader must be someone who can communicate robust ideas with resolve and humility so that the nation is carried, not divided.
"For these reasons - not despite but because we are from different wings of the Conservative Party - we both see Tom Tugendhat as the individual to deliver the leadership we need."
In a Conservative Home survey of 995 Tory Party members last week, Mr Tugendhat polled at 13% - in second place alongside Mr Jenrick, ahead of Ms Braverman (10%) and Mr Cleverly (9%).
Ms Badenoch polled first at 26%, with Ms Patel in sixth with 3%.
The 1922 Committee of backbenchers will set the rules and timeline for the race to succeed Rishi Sunak. There have been divisions in the party over how long the contest should take.
