Tom Tugendhat warns against Tories becoming Reform UK

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Tom Tugendhat warns against Tories becoming Reform ***

************* leadership hopeful Tom Tugendhat has warned against his party becoming Reform ***, as he made his pitch to party members.

Speaking from the main stage at the ************* conference in Birmingham, Tugendhat said the Tories needed to “rebuild trust” with the public, after the party’s historic election defeat in July.

Rival leadership candidate Kemi Badenoch said she was prepared to work with Nigel Farage’s party in Parliament but ruled out an electoral pact.

Tugendhat and Badenoch were the first contenders to speak in the main hall, with Robert Jenrick and James Cleverly getting their chance on Tuesday.

Both candidates were interviewed by GB News political editor Christopher Hope, before taking questions from party members.

In July the Tories suffered their worst general election defeat in the party’s parliamentary history, losing votes to both the ******** Democrats on the left and Reform *** on the right.

Asked whether the Lib Dems or Reform were the biggest ******, Tugendhat, who is from the centrist One Nation wing of the party, said: “The ****** is trust. We have eroded trust in ourselves and we need to rebuild trust in the ************* Party.”

He argued people did not vote for Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey or Reform *** leader Nigel Farage to become prime minister.

“They voted against us. People woke up in the morning and they wanted to get us out,” he added.

Asked whether he would do a deal with Mr Farage, he said: “My job is to reform the ************* Party not to become Reform.”

When the same questions were put to Badenoch, she said “anyone who’s not a ************* has got to be defeated”.

She argued Reform politicians were not “real Conservatives” and “not serious people” but that Reform voters “are our people”.

Pressed over whether she would do a deal with Farage’s party, she said: “I am always prepared to work with any other party that wants to help us deliver our agenda. I think that’s fine in Parliament, but in an election, no.”

She added: “At the next election we have to be the centre-right option. If we split that vote, we are going to be out of power for another five years and Labour will ******** this country.”

During the session Tugendhat, a former officer in the Territorial Army who has served in Iraq and Afghanistan, repeatedly highlighted his military background, saying “my entire life has been about public service”.

However, he was challenged over whether he was the most inexperienced candidate, given the only government role he has previously held is security minister.

Tugendhat shrugged off the question with a dig at his rivals’ lack of military record, saying: “I’m not going to hold against anybody their inexperience in combat or their inexperience in foreign affairs.

“I won’t hold against them the areas where they didn’t serve their country and put their lives on the line. They have served in other ways and I think we should respect that.”

Meanwhile, Badenoch faced questions

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.

The shadow housing secretary insisted she had been answering a different question and that “maternity pay is quite important”.

She added that her comments were part of a “long discussion about the role of the state in deciding what businesses should do”.

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