End Tory leadership race early, says Tugendhat

While Labour’s dirty laundry over ‘frockgate‘ is being aired in public, it would be easy to forget there are still Tory leadership contests rumbling on in the background. The Scottish race will conclude at the end of the month, but the UK Conservative party leader will only be announced in November – a decision that has caused much consternation in the party.

It now transpires that contender Tom Tugendhat believes the conclusion of the race should be brought forward to ensure a new party leader is chosen before the Budget. Currently the ex-PM Rishi Sunak will be in place when Labour’s financial statement announcement takes place on 30 October – just days before a new Tory leader is installed. Speaking to the Telegraph, Tugendhat was quizzed on whether he would ‘bring forward’ the contest. Adamant in his response, the One Nation Tory insisted:

Let me be absolutely clear – yes. We should have a leader of the opposition who’s able to respond to the Budget, because that Budget is going to set the agenda for this government and for this parliament.