Yesterday it was Ben Wallace who backed Liz Truss: tonight it’s Tom Tugendhat. All the big-name endorsements are coming out and at the moment there’s only one candidate they’re supporting. In a piece for the Times, Tugendhat praised Truss’s economic policies, writing that her plans to cut taxes were ‘founded on true Conservative principles.’
The endorsement is notable for two reasons. First, Tugendhat was himself a candidate and has a good standing among the ‘One Nation’ caucus of moderate Tory MPs and supporters. And secondly, Tugendhat and Truss have history together so it’s a sign of just how much momentum is behind the Foreign Secretary that he has (belatedly) chosen to support her.
The pair have repeatedly clashed over China in the latter’s capacity as both the head of the China Research Group and the chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee. Earlier in this contest, Tugendhat refused to even say if she had been a good Foreign Secretary, suggesting that it was too soon to make that judgement.
Indeed, just last month Tugendhat was the one mocking Truss over the failure of her department to publish its ‘China Strategy.’ He joked that the document was ‘Schrödinger’s strategy’ – it both exists and apparently doesn’t. How the tables have now turned…
Given the history between the two, Tugendhat’s belated endorsement is likely to be perceived as a somewhat cynical calculation to try to guarantee a good job in the next government. It’s a clear sign of which way the wind is blowing in this contest and shows just how much the dynamics have shifted from the days when Tugendhat’s own chances as a contender were being talked up.
After all, nothing screams ‘clean start’ like the candidate who has been in government for 10 years under three Prime Ministers, does it?
Comments