Tom Tugendhat becomes second MP to announce he will run for the Conservative leadership pledging to 'unite the party and end Tory infighting'

Tom Tugendhat last night became the second Tory MP to announce he will run for the party leadership.

The shadow security minister joined James Cleverly in throwing their hats into the ring for the contest that will conclude this autumn.

Nominations for the race opened tonight and MPs including Kemi Badenoch, Dame Priti Patel, Suella Braverman, Mel Stride and Robert Jenrick are also expected to run.

All seven had requested nomination packs from Bob Blackman, chair of the 1922 committee, Sky News reported.

Each candidate needs to be nominated by at least ten MPs.

Announcing his bid, Mr Tugendhat said he would end Tory infighting and unite the party and wanted to be the next prime minister, not just the next Tory leader.

The shadow cabinet minister said the reason the party had suffered its worst ever election result was that it had lost the trust of the British people.

'I am not just running to be the next leader of the Conservative Party. I am running to be the next Conservative prime minister, because we can't make our country a better place from the opposition benches,' he said.

'The Conservative Party lost the trust of the British people because we didn't do what we said we would. Taxes are higher, immigration is higher and we didn't deliver on our promise to give people more control over their everyday lives.

'Instead of delivering for the country we spent time fighting each other. I will put an end to this, and ensure we're fighting for Conservative values instead. That's why I'm standing to unite the party, rebuild people's trust, and win back our country.'

He also said the party needed to return to traditional conservative principles, highlighting that he had opposed Covid vaccine passports and the National Insurance increase.

Mr Tugendhat also launched his bid by saying he was willing to leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). It will be seen as an attempt to overtake Ms Badenoch, who has said that the option of leaving the convention should be kept open.

Writing in The Daily Telegraph, he said: 'Some people think the Conservative leadership election will be divisive, splitting the party. That's wrong because actually there's a long list of things this election isn't about: the ECHR. Gender. Tax rates. Defence spending. Net zero.

'These are things that aren't up for debate. We know that if institutions make it harder to control our own borders, then we will have to exempt ourselves from them, or leave their jurisdiction.

'We know what a woman is. We all know national security must come before Treasury spreadsheets These are commonsense Conservative positions.'

His announcement came after polling put him ahead of other contenders among the public and 2024 Tory voters, with shadow home secretary Mr Cleverly second.

The Savanta polling – which was carried out between July 19 and 21 – put Mr Tugendhat at minus three points in public net favourability ratings, and 2024 Conservative voters, at 21 points.

Mr Cleverly was second at minus nine points with the public and 19 points among 2024 Conservative voters. Dame Priti was least popular, at minus 28 points and seven points respectively.

Mr Tugendhat is seen as a moderate centrist and has secured the backing of former One Nation leader Damian Green as well as right-leaning former minister Steve Baker.

Mr Cleverly made his announcement on Tuesday, saying the party needs to expand its base of support and shake off the impression that it is more focused on infighting than serving the public.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that his party had spent 'too much time rowing amongst ourselves' which gave the impression Tories were only 'focused on ourselves'.

He said the Conservative Party needs to 'expand our base of support' but ruled out any pact or merger with Nigel Farage's Reform UK.

Former home secretary Suella Braverman, who is also expected to run, said on Tuesday that Tories must reject 'divisive identity politics and woke nonsense' in order to win back Reform voters.

Shadow health secretary Victoria Atkins has announced she would not stand for the Tory leadership.

She warned the party against a lurch to the Left or the Right as she said they had been defeated because they had lost the trust of voters in a piece in The Telegraph.

Under plans drawn up by the 1922 Committee of backbench Tory MPs, nominations opened last night and will close on July 29.

MPs will then narrow the field down to four, who will make their case at the Conservative Party Conference, which runs from September 29 to October 2.

The final two, picked by the parliamentary party, will then be voted on by Conservative Party members in an online ballot that will close on October 31. The result will be announced on November 2.