Former minister Tom Tugendhat has apologised for the “disrespect and double standards” of previous Conservative governments as he made his appeal to become the next party leader.
Speaking from Westminster at his campaign launch, Mr Tugendhat said he had “witnessed the recent political trauma” within the Tory ranks “with a combination of depression and anger”, and saw “duty give way to ego”.
But he insisted under his leadership, the party would “bring back an honest, responsible state – one that serves you, leads the changes that we need and acts on its word”.
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Mr Tugendhat is one of six candidates vying to lead the Conservatives following their large scale loss to Labour in July’s general election. The others are Kemi Badenoch, James Cleverly, Robert Jenrick, Dame Priti Patel and Mel Stride.
Ms Badenoch and Mr Cleverly both held their launches on Monday, with the former also criticising the previous government – in which she served – and the latter pledging to bring back some of their politics, including the Rwanda deportation scheme.
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Later on Tuesday, all six will take part of a hustings in parliament ahead of the first round of voting by MPs on Wednesday, which will see the person with the least votes eliminated from the race.
A further round of voting will take place next Monday to get the ballot down to four, and they will face an onstage hustings during the Conservative Party conference at the end of the month.
After another vote by MPs, the wider membership will then choose their leader from the last two standing, with the result expected to be announced on 2 November.
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At his launch, Mr Tugendhat said he did not want to be the leader of the opposition but wanted to be prime minister, pleading to make his party “a serious force again” after the summer drubbing – “respected for our experience and our realism, admired for our integrity, acknowledged for our achievements, and being given credit for seeing the errors we may make and correcting them”.
He added: “By doing that I believe that I will lead our party back to power.”
The ex- minister said his “mission” was “the happiness and prosperity of the British people”, and he would bring forward a new “Conservative revolution” through investment into infrastructure and public service reform.
He also reiterated his pledge to put a cap on immigration into the UK of 100,000 people a year.
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When it came to the internal Tory debate of whether the country should remain part of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), Mr Tugendhat said his position was Britain should “opt out from some aspects and reform others”.
But, he added: “If we cant achieve what we need to in a reasonable timeframe… I am prepared to leave.”
Turning his ire on Labour and the prime minister, he said all he had heard from Sir Keir Starmer in recent weeks was him “talking Britain down because he has no idea how to build this great country up”.
And while the leadership hopeful did agree there was “a tough road ahead”, he placed the blame at the door of Downing Street, saying: “Despite his massive majority, [Sir Keir] has got absolutely no idea what he is doing.”
Concluding his pitch and returning to his apology, Mr Tugendhat said: “I will work hard to regain your trust and to serve our great country, as I always have.
“And the best apology I can offer for the past is the promise of better leadership and a better future and that is what I will always do.”
