Over a third of Scottish Conservative Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) have endorsed Shadow Security Minister Tom Tugendhat in the Conservative Party’s leadership race.
While only Conservative Members of Parliament at Westminster are involved in selecting the final two candidates, Tugendhat has secured endorsements from 12 Scottish Conservative MSPs, more than any other candidate.
Holyrood’s shadow secretary for Finance and Economy, Liz Smith, is the latest to endorse Tugendhat.
Writing in Politics Home, Smith – a senior figure in the Scottish Conservative Party – said:
“[Tugendhat] understands, and more importantly, champions Scotland.”
Elected as MP for Tonbridge and Malling in 2015, Tugendhat served for 10 years in the intelligence corps in Afghanistan and Iraq before moving to politics.
As a non-ministerial backbencher, he chaired the Foreign Affairs select committee before being made Minister for State and Security by Liz Truss in 2022.
He remained in the post under Sunak’s leadership.
Speaking to The Student, one Tugendhat backer, Tim Eagle MSP, said his service history would allow him to provide the “strong leadership” required to “make the Conservative Party a serious force again.”
Eagle added that:
“Tom recognises that too many voters lost faith in the Conservative Party at the recent General Election, in large part because of internal divisions that occurred within the party…”
Previously seen as a moderate from the party’s centre-right ‘One-Nation’ faction, he has recently been accused of pandering to the right of his party.
In his leadership campaign launch speech, he stated he would be prepared to withdraw the UK from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) if it prevented him from deporting foreign criminals.
The ECHR is the agreement that protects the human rights of citizens in the 47 states part of the Council of Europe, a separate organisation to the European Union.
Withdrawal from the ECHR would likely require repealing the Human Rights Act in the UK.
A 2024 YouGov poll showed that 61 per cent of Scottish people would vote to remain part of the ECHR, more so than any other region in the UK.
Asked whether Tugendhat’s approach would go down well with the Scottish public, another MSP endorsing him, Douglas Lumsden, told The Student that:
“[I]t’s not about undermining rights—it’s about ensuring our immigration system is effective and that we have control over our laws.”
According to Lumsden, Tugendhat would “listen to the concerns from Scotland”.
Despite this support, Tugendhat and Shadow Home Secretary James Cleverly are currently tied for last place with 21 votes each after surviving two knockout rounds.
The former Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick is currently in first place with 33 MPs backing him, while Housing, Communities and Local Government Minister Kemi Badenoch is in second place with 28 backers.
All four will address Conservative Party members at the party conference in Birmingham this week to shore up support.
The final stage of the leadership race will take place on 2 November, when the membership will choose between the top two candidates.
“Security Minister Tom Tugendhat joins a march against antisemitism in Manchester on 21 January 2024 – 1” by UK Home Office is licensed under CC BY 2.0.