Tom Tugendhat hits back at claims he'd be 'learning on job

Ex-soldier Tom Tugendhat packs in army metaphors – while vowing to deploy military experts to tackle NHS backlogs and pledging to slash fuel duty by 10p – as Tory leadership hopeful hits back at claims he would be ‘learning on the job’ as PM

• Tom Tugendhat packs in military metaphors as he sets out Tory leadership pitch
• Ex-soldier takes a swipe at Boris Johnson for ‘delivering scandal’ in Number 10
• He’s never been a minister – but hits back at claim he’d be ‘learning on job’ as PM 

Former soldier Tom Tugendhat today packed in military metaphors as he outlined his bid to be Tory leader.

In a speech in Westminster this morning, the senior Conservative MP promised ‘leadership with a renewed sense of mission’ and insisted he ‘cannot accept defeat’.

Mr Tugendhat, who served in both Iraq and Afghanistan, told supporters the British people had asked the Tory Government to not only ‘hold the line’ but ‘to advance’.

In a swipe at outgoing PM Boris Johnson, he vowed a ‘clean start’ and despaired at how ‘when the moment demanded service, we delivered scandal’.

The 49-year-old made a series of policy pledges, including a 10p per litre cut to fuel duty and immediate action to tackle the NHS backlogs.

But he was also forced to hit back at claims he would be ‘learning on the job’ as Tory leader and PM, as he has never held ministerial office before.

And he denied his leadership campaign was merely a ploy to secure a senior Cabinet job from whoever was the winning candidate.

Ex-soldier Tom Tugendhat promised ‘leadership with a renewed sense of mission’ and insisted he ‘cannot accept defeat’

The senior Tory MP, who served in both Iraq and Afghanistan, packed his speech with military metaphors

Mr Tugendhat, the chair of the House of Commons’ Foreign Affairs Committee, was wounded twice during a ten-hour firefight behind enemy lines when he served in Iraq.

He referred to his military career as he pointed to how he had ‘a record of service and a record of delivery in some of the most difficult and trying conditions around the world’.

Deputy PM Dominic Raab – who is backing ex-chancellor Rishi Sunak for the Tory leadership – has insisted it is ‘no time to learn on the job’ for a new PM

But Mr Tugendhat swiped back that he would be ‘putting all that experience’ from his time in the army ‘to work’ in Downing Street.

‘The reality is that the job of prime minister is unlike every other job in government,’ he added.

‘It’s not a management job, it’s not a departmental job. It’s a job that demands vision and leadership, it demands a willingness to serve and to throw everything in the duty of serving the British people.’

With a cost-of-living crisis and war in Ukraine, Mr Tugendhat noted there was a ‘creeping sense of despair about our collective future’ with Britain facing a ‘defining moment’.

He lashed out at the response of Mr Johnson and the wider Conservatives Party to the mounting challenges.

He added: ‘In a moment that is so desperate for so many – and when our service is most needed – we have retreated.

‘We have retreated into the pettiness of a politics that is more about personality than principle.

‘We have retreated into division when we desperately need unity. When our nation needed our party to function, we retreated into faction.

‘When the moment demanded service, we delivered scandal. This is a crisis of purpose, of leadership, and of trust.’ 

Mr Tugendhat appears to have won enough support to make it through to tomorrow’s first round of voting among Tory MPs

Mr Tugendhat backed Remain ahead of the EU referendum, but he vowed to ‘seize one of the biggest economic benefits of Brexit that we haven’t yet grasped’.

He outlined a plan to rip up ‘EU rules that forced British insurers to sit on dead money that they are not allowed to invest’.

Mr Tugendhat promised that removing the EU’s Solvency II regulations would ‘mean around £100 billion of British savers’ money can be put to work regenerating our communities and building homes’.

In other policy pledges, Mr Tugendhat confirmed his intent to scrap the recent 1.25 percentage point rise in National Insurance contributions.

He also promised to ease the cost-of-living crisis for struggling Britons by reducing fuel duty by 10p a litre.

On his first day in Downing Street, Mr Tugendhat also promised he would ‘bring together experts from the NHS, the wider public sector, the military, the private sector and the voluntary sector to bust through the NHS backlog’.

He said he would aim to copy the success of the Covid vaccines taskforce in dealing with hospitals’ mammoth waiting lists caused by the Coronavirus crisis.

Mr Tugendhat appears to have won enough support among fellow Tory MPs in order to make it through to tomorrow’s first ballot in the leadership contest.

Among those supporting him are International Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan and ex-Cabinet ministers Damian Green and Karen Bradley.

But Mr Tugendhat is still viewed as an outsider due to his absence of experience being in government.

He today denied his leadership bid was merely an attempt to be named foreign secretary in a future administration.

‘I did not enter this race for any other purpose than to champion the values that I stand on and to lead the country I love,’ Mr Tugendhat said.

‘That is why I am here, this is not a compromise position, this is not a negotiating strategy, this is a plan and we’re going to deliver it.’

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