Lord Clarke backs Tom Tugendhat to be next Tory leader

In his prediction of the contenders for the position of the next leader of the party, Lord Clarke will support Tom Tugendhat. 
 
The Tory peer, who as Kenneth Clarke has also been justice secretary and chancellor, said he was minded to vote for Mr Tugendhat because of the latter’s charm and position on defense matters. 
 
The shadow security minister who demanded that defence budget should be increased to three per cent of GDP is one of the contenders for the leadership of the party in November 2024. 
 
Asked about how engaged he was with the contest, Lord Clarke told Times Radio: Yes, I follow it closely. I shall be able to vote as a paid-up member of the Conservative Party only when there is this between two contestants. 
 
I am still on the fence, but it is likely to be for Tom Tugendhat if he gets to the final pair, which, I hope, will happen. 
 
“I consider him to be among few of our political leaders of now that possess at least an iota of charisma in him He is very effective in expressing his opinion His line of thinking is sensible and intelligent as is derived from his knowledge on what he is venting out. 
 
The six will be cut down to four in enough time for them to speak to party activists in the annual Tory conference in October before the ultimate two are determined by the members. 
 
The bookmakers’ favourites are Kemi Badenoch, the shadow housing secretary, and Robert Jenrick, who resigned as immigration minister in 2023 over Mr Sunak’s Rwanda policy. 
 
This led to calls to sharpen the contest and have policy debates from the then Lord Clarke who cautioned against “a crazy American-type election”. 
 
He also acknowledged Mr Tugendhat’s “wider vision for a free-market-based society for the soul of this country”, adding: “He has very sound, straightforward experience of defence and security, which we have sidelined. 
 
Term the 2016 contest a ‘fiasco’ 
 
Lord Clarke was secretly filmed during the 2016 Tory leadership election, when he was an MP, making fun of the Tory contenders and describing that year’s race as a ‘disaster’. 
 
He memorably referred to the future winner Theresa May as a “bloody difficult woman” and insisted that Ms Leadsom had said “some extremely stupid things”. 
 
He also said that Michael Gove, whose independent candidacy made Johnson withdraw, would “declare war on at least three countries at once if he ever ran for the PM”. 
 
Not surprisingly, he remained out of sight during the subsequent Tory leadership contest that was held three years later when Mr Johnson successfully beat Jeremy Hunt to Number 10 Downing Street. 
 
Lord Clarke was one of 21 MPs expelled by the prime minister in September 2019 when the politicians rebelled against the government on Brexit. 
 
He sat as an independent before he resigned from the Commons at the general election in that year but regained his Tory seat in the Lords the next year.