Tom Tugendhat admits that being the next Foreign Secretary ‘would be a fantastic job’ but says Liz Truss has ‘promised him nothing’ as he threw his support behind her to be next Tory leader
- Tom Tugendhat said being Foreign Secretary ‘would be a fantastic job to do’
- Mr Tugendhat is latest high profile Conservative to publicly endorse Liz Truss
- ‘The reality is I’ve been promised nothing, I expect nothing,’ he said yesterday
- Truss praised him as ‘very talented’ and says she is delighted to have his backing
Tom Tugendhat has said being Foreign Secretary ‘would be a fantastic job to do’ after he lent his backing to Tory leadership frontrunner Liz Truss.
Mr Tugendhat is the latest high-profile Conservative to publicly endorse Truss over rival leadership contender Rishi Sunak.
The pair shared a warm embrace at a campaign event at Biggin Hall Airport in south London yesterday but Mr Tugendhat insists Ms Truss has not promised him anything, Sky News reports.
At yesterday’s event, reporters asked Mr Tugendhat – who chairs the Foreign Affairs Select Committee – whether he would like to be Foreign Secretary,
He responded: ‘Well, look, it would be a fantastic job to do, let’s not pretend it wouldn’t.
British Foreign Secretary and Conservative leadership candidate Liz Truss and British Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat pose for a picture with party members at the Conservative Party leadership campaign event at Biggin Hill Airport yesterday
But there are ‘many other jobs that I’ve spoken about wanting to do’
‘But the reality is I’ve been promised nothing, I expect nothing. I hope for a lot, but I have no right to expect.’
Liz Truss said she was ‘absolutely delighted’ about Mr Tugendhat’s support, but described it as ‘extremely premature’ to say whether she would appoint him Foreign Secretary.
Ms Truss said: ‘He is a very, very talented person and I’m very grateful to have the support from right across all parts of the Conservative Party because we need to reunite after this leadership election.’
She insisted it was a ‘very, very close race,’ while trumpeting her ‘support from right across all parts of the Conservative Party’ after gaining Tory centrist Tom Tugendhat’s backing.
Mr Sunak, who has consistently trailed Ms Truss in polls of party members, faces an uphill battle to win them over before ballots start landing on their doorsteps next week.
Both contenders are continuing to flit across the country to meet voters, with Mr Sunak tweeting photos of himself with supporters in key southern constituencies with the caption: ‘Busy Saturday meeting hundreds of members. Wouldn’t have it any other way!’
Tom Tugendhat has said being Foreign Secretary ‘would be a fantastic job to do’ after he lent his backing to Tory leadership frontrunner Liz Truss.
Liz Truss said she was ‘absolutely delighted’ about Mr Tugendhat’s support, but described it as ‘extremely premature’ to say whether she would appoint him Foreign Secretary
His latest plans in a policy blitz designed to revive his flagging campaign included slashing the number of shuttered shops on Britain’s high streets, allowing tougher punishment for graffiti and littering, and expanding police powers to tackle anti-social behaviour.
Mr Sunak also told The Sunday Telegraph he would levy a £10 fine for patients who miss GP and hospital appointments as part of a ‘transformative’ overhaul of the NHS.
The former chancellor also acknowledged to the newspaper he is ‘playing catch-up’ to Ms Truss as he seemingly sought to claim the sought-after underdog status.
Ms Truss’s latest policy announcements include a six-point plan on education, under which she promised that pupils with top A level grades would get an automatic invitation to apply for Oxbridge and other prestigious universities.
Branding herself the ‘education prime minister’, she also vowed to replace failing academies with ‘a new wave of free schools’ and improve maths and literacy standards.
Ms Truss also told The Telegraph there would be no second referendum on Scottish independence ‘on my watch,’ with her rejection appearing to go further than Boris Johnson’s assertion that now was ‘not the time’.
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