Tom Tugendhat is the first up to the stage. The centre-right ex-security minister will try and win over the membership by calling for a “New Conservative Revolution”. Expect some talk on the military too…
#LIVE: My speech at Conservative Party Conference https://t.co/QaVed9QViL
— Tom Tugendhat (@TomTugendhat) October 2, 2024
After a short video of Tom’s time serving his country in the army, focusing on him being a good Prime Minister rather than just the Leader of the Opposition, Tom took the stage. Here are the main takeaways:
- Tom hinges on being a patriot, declaring that unlike Labour, he will never apologise for who he or his country is.
- Stresses his leadership credentials as former soldier: “I was a soldier, I served our country and I faced our enemies. I know what leadership demands.”
- “Leadership is not about empty promises”.
- He will “never abandon those on the frontline” .
- Slams “venal and vindictive” Labour on their policies on pensioners, freedoms, migration, policing and high taxes.
- Promises to rebuild CCHQ for the members.
- Says we need a Thatcher-style revolution to “free the economy” for “real” growth.
- Build new nuclear power plants so we are “never dependent on tyrants”.
- Cap immigration at 100,000. Says it’s about visas rather than foreign courts and training British workers to fill job vacancies.
- His rivals are managers, whilst he is a leader, Tom suggests.
- He finishes off by saying he “believes in Britain”, stating that the Tories “must win. Not in 10 years, not in 15, but in five.”
A bit vague…
The latest register of members’ interests sheds some light on the financial support of Tory leader hopefuls. By the end of last month, candidates raked in the cash from top Tory donors, with Jenrick outgunning his rivals raising £250,000. Notably, the firm owned by Nadhim Zahawi’s wife was one of his top donors. Meanwhile, Badenoch’s team comes in second, raising just under £200,000, and Patel garnered £180,000, though sadly for her donors, the result hasn’t been Priti. It’s worth remembering these are just the donations published so far. There’s still another two months to go…
The final four on Tuesday next week will have to hand £50,000 to the Tory party, with the last two having to fork out a further £150,000 cheque to the “broke” CCHQ under the ‘pay-to-play’ rules. Money talks…
Shadow security minister Tom Tugendhat is launching his official leadership campaign today in Westminster. Expect some “sorry”s about Tory infighting and expressed anger at the “games” played before the election. His slogan has now changed from Unite, Rebuild, Win to Serve, Lead, Act. A third change…
Watch live: Conservative leadership candidate Tom Tugendhat makes his case for the job in a major speech ahead of tomorrow’s vote https://t.co/xItZsH7tea https://t.co/LiWozZEruJ
— Sky News (@SkyNews) September 3, 2024
Tom will be appealing to those One Nation Tory MPs who are deciding between him and Cleverly. It’s all to play for…
Tom’s team opted for foam fingers and M&Ms with his face on them as the choice of merch. How fun…
Guido hears the Tory leadership candidates meeting at CCHQ earlier this week got rather heated. Candidates sent in their Rottweiler representatives to whinge about process – in particular, Tom Tugendhat’s lot. Apparently Tom’s team went in all guns blazing, lobbying for a higher spending limit on the campaigns. Seems unlikely to be for any good reason…
The current cap is £400,000 (already £100,000 higher than the last contest) plus a £200,000 ‘entry fee’ for the final two. The suggestion went down like a lead balloon per sources in the room. Otherwise, a dull August of Tory leadership manoeuvring continues…
Tom Tugendhat has officially launched today with a minimalist video. His campaign website went live last night. This morning it’s a game of spot the difference…
Did someone on Team Tom work out that the acronym was T-U-R-D? Keeping on top of the mischief…
