Tom Tugendhat insisted he could lead the Conservative Party back to power in just one parliamentary term after formally declaring his candidacy in the race to replace Rishi Sunak. 

Mr Tugendhat has joined James Cleverly in announcing he wants to be the next Tory leader, with other senior figures expected to follow suit in the coming days. 

The shadow security minister was asked this morning during an interview on BBC Breakfast if he believed he could win an election as leader in just five years’ time. 

He replied: “Yes, it is possible to do that. You’ve got to restore trust. You’ve got to demonstrate delivery and you’ve got to be able to listen to the British people to make sure you understand where the challenges are.

“But you can look at what Keir Starmer achieved, frankly, he went from his worst electoral result to his best in five years.

“We can do the same but we need to be united. We need to regain the trust of the British people and we need to be ready to deliver.”

Nominations are now open in the contest and contenders have until Monday to get the support of the 10 MPs they need to make it onto the ballot paper. The winner will be determined by Nov 2. 

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