On Thursday 4 July, the people of this country made a decision. The Conservative Party were reduced to a rump of 121 MPs, decimated in not just the Red Wall but also our traditional heartlands like Sussex, Hampshire, Surrey, and Kent.
I was a Councillor in Tandridge and stood for election for Reigate & Banstead Borough Council in May, losing my seat to the Greens. However, nothing prepared me for what happened on the night of 4 July.
In a bleak sports centre in Dorking, I watched as MP after MP lost their seat to Labour and the Lib Dems, and just as the sun started to rise on a rainy morning, I saw my own local Conservative candidate lose to the Lib Dems by 5,391 votes. She ran an energetic and positive campaign, and didn't deserve to lose, but the Lib Dems were entrenching themselves in the constituency, ruthlessly tearing into the government's record and lack of delivery. And we were too distracted by infighting to see this coming.
Because of this shortsightedness and division, huge swathes of the home counties including significant parts of my home county of Surrey are represented by the Liberal Democrats. Looking back, the signs were obvious. I was canvassing in Langshott, in the ward which I lost in May, and a normally Conservative voter told me that they couldn't vote for us because they weren't convinced we wouldn't "eat ourselves alive again". And that for me sums up our problem.
People can't trust us because we are constantly at each other's throats. And because we are at each other's throats, we're distracted in our aim to deliver on the public's priorities. We can't carry on like this. I've seen the damage to Greens and Lib Dems have done to my community and we cannot allow it to carry on unchecked. We need a leader who can build back trust.
So how do we build back trust with the people who abandoned us for other parties?
We need someone who can unite our fractured party and robustly hold this Labour government to account. We need someone who is forward looking and able to connect with the areas we lost. We need someone who is able to deliver on the public's priorities and help us first win back as many Councillors as we can, then win the next General Election. I believe that person is Tom Tugendhat.
Tom is a principled, decent man who has chaired the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, served as Minister of State for Security, and represented the residents of Tonbridge with integrity for the last nine years. He has also served our country with distinction in the military, fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
He is able to unite our fractured party because he doesn't play games and doesn't aim to score cheap political points. Tom is backed by a broad coalition from various wings of the party including Steve Baker, Jake Berry, and Damian Green. If someone can bring together a broad coalition like this, they can unite our party.
Among Lib Dem and Labour MPs, he is one of the most feared candidates because he is competent, effective and delivers on his promises. I live near his constituency, and the people I know from Tonbridge and Edenbridge say he is a studious and conscientious constituency MP. He has a strong track record which will help us restore trust with the public and start healing the damage caused by the divisions within our party.
I will be voting for someone who says what he means and does what he says. And someone who will unite the party and restore stability in a new chapter for our movement. Tom is that person and I urge friends and colleagues in the Conservative Party to back him in this important election. The future of our communities depends on it.
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