Tom Tugendhat

Thomas Georg John Tugendhat (born 27 June 1973) is a British politician who has served as Minister of State for Security since September 2022.

On 6 July 2003, Tugendhat was commissioned into the Educational and Training Services Branch of the Adjutant General's Corps, Territorial Army, British Army, as a second lieutenant (on probation).

His Territorial Army commission was confirmed on 16 July 2003.

He transferred to the Intelligence Corps on 29 July 2003.

Tugendhat was promoted to lieutenant on 16 July 2005, captain on 1 April 2007, and to major on 1 January 2010.

He became a Territorial Army lieutenant colonel in July 2013.

He has been known to wear a tie associated with the UK Special Forces, prompting speculation that for part of this time he may have served in the Special Air Service.

Tugendhat served during the Iraq War and the War in Afghanistan.

He served in Afghanistan in a civilian capacity, for the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO), and helped set up the National Security Council of Afghanistan and the government in Helmand Province.

He later served as one of the military assistants to the Chief of the Defence Staff.

In 2013, Tugendhat was selected as the Conservative Party candidate for Tonbridge and Malling in an open primary.

A member of the Conservative Party, he has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Tonbridge and Malling since 2015.

Tugendhat was elected as the Member of Parliament for Tonbridge and Malling, a safe Conservative seat in Kent, at the 2015 general election.

At the 2015 general election, Tugendhat was elected as MP for Tonbridge and Malling, winning 59.4% of the vote and a majority of 23,734.

In October 2015, Tugendhat accused Iran of arming insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan: "Through the Quds Force, the special forces unit of the regime's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, it has killed British troops and plotted to assassinate diplomats in Washington DC. The ayatollahs have nurtured terrorists around the world."

Tugendhat voted against Brexit, supporting continued membership of the European Union in the 2016 referendum.

He voted in favour of the withdrawal agreement negotiated by Theresa May's government on each of the three occasions it was put to a vote.

Tugendhat was the chair of the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee from 2017 to 2022.

Before entering politics, he worked as a journalist and as a public relations consultant in the Middle East.

He also had a part-time role as an officer in the British Army reserves, the Territorial Army; Tugendhat served in the Iraq War and the Afghanistan War.

In July 2022, Tugendhat stood in the Conservative Party leadership election, following Prime Minister Boris Johnson's resignation, and was eliminated in the third round of parliamentary voting.

He subsequently supported Liz Truss's bid to become Conservative leader.

Following Truss's appointment as Prime Minister, she appointed Tugendhat as Minister of State for Security, a role in which he continues to serve under the subsequent Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

Tugendhat was born in Westminster, London, the son of Sir Michael Tugendhat, a High Court judge and his French-born wife Blandine de Loisne.

He is a nephew of Lord Tugendhat, a businessman, former Vice President of the European Commission and Conservative Party politician.

He was educated at St Paul's School, London, an all-boys private school, before studying theology at the University of Bristol.

Tugendhat then did a Master's degree course in Islamic studies at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, and learning Arabic in Yemen.

Following university, he briefly served as a journalist at the Lebanese newspaper The Daily Star.

At the snap 2017 general election, Tugendhat was re-elected, increasing his share of the vote to 63.6% but seeing his majority decrease to 23,508.

On 12 July 2017, Tugendhat was elected chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, becoming the youngest person to hold the post.

After the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury by a nerve agent, Tugendhat said the attack was "if not an act of war (...) certainly a warlike act by the Russian Federation".

In February 2018, Tugendhat praised Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman: "He is rightly showing a vision for Saudi Arabia that sees her taking her place as a player in the global economy and I think that is incredibly positive, not just for Saudi Arabia, but for the world."

Under Tugendhat's chairmanship the Foreign Affairs Committee focused on British foreign policy priorities after Brexit.

Other significant enquiries have covered: the implications of China's growing role in the international system, the UK's relationship with India, and the Responsibility to Protect.

On 21 May 2018, the Foreign Affairs Committee published a report on Russian corruption and the UK.

This drew attention to the ability of President Vladimir Putin and his allies to launder assets through London, and called on the UK Government to "show stronger political leadership in ending the flow of dirty money into the UK".

The report criticised the law firm Linklaters for its unwillingness to give evidence to the committee about the nature of working in the Russian Federation at that time.

At the 2019 general election, Tugendhat was again re-elected, seeing his share of the vote to 62.8% but with an increased majority of 26,941.

Tugendhat has "never made a secret of his ambitions to be Prime Minister one day."

In January 2022, he stated he would consider running for the office of Prime Minister if Boris Johnson stood down.