45 Facts About Tom Tugendhat

Tom Tugendhat studied at the University of Bristol and went on to study at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge.

Tom Tugendhat later served as one of the military assistants to the Chief of the Defence staff.

Tom Tugendhat was elected to Parliament for the Conservative party as the MP for Tonbridge and Malling in the 2015 general election.

Tom Tugendhat was reelected in both the 2017 general election and the 2019 general election, and was the Chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee between 2017 and 2022.

Tom Tugendhat was eliminated in the third round of parliamentary voting, and subsequently endorsed Liz Truss, serving in her government as Minister of State for Security.

Tom Tugendhat was eliminated in the third round of Conservative MP voting.

Thomas Georg John Tom Tugendhat was born on 27 June 1973 in Westminster, the son of Sir Michael Tom Tugendhat, a High Court judge and his French-born wife Blandine de Loisne.

Tom Tugendhat is a nephew of Lord Tugendhat, a businessman, former Vice President of the European Commission and Conservative Party politician.

Tom Tugendhat was educated at St Paul's School, London, an all-boys private school, before studying theology at the University of Bristol.

Tom Tugendhat then did a Master's degree course in Islamic studies at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, and learnt Arabic in Yemen.

On 6 July 2003, Tom Tugendhat was commissioned into the Educational and Training Services Branch of the Adjutant General's Corps, Territorial Army, British Army, as a second lieutenant.

Tom Tugendhat transferred to the Intelligence Corps on 29 July 2003.

Tom Tugendhat was promoted to lieutenant on 16 July 2005, captain on 1 April 2007, and to major on 1 January 2010.

Tom Tugendhat became a Territorial Army lieutenant colonel in July 2013.

Tom Tugendhat served during the Iraq War and the War in Afghanistan.

Tom Tugendhat served in Afghanistan in a civilian capacity, for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and helped set up the National Security Council of Afghanistan and the government in Helmand Province.

Tom Tugendhat later served as one of the military assistants to the Chief of the Defence Staff.

In 2013, in an open primary, Tom Tugendhat was selected as the Conservative candidate for Tonbridge and Malling, a safe Conservative seat in Kent.

Tom Tugendhat was duly elected as its Member of Parliament at the 2015 general election, winning 59.4 per cent of the votes and a majority of 23,734.

In October 2015, Tom Tugendhat accused Iran of arming insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Tom Tugendhat voted against Brexit, supporting continued membership of the European Union in the 2016 Brexit referendum.

At the snap 2017 United Kingdom general election, Tom Tugendhat was re-elected, increasing his share of the vote to 63.6 per cent, but seeing his majority decrease to 23,508.

On 12 July 2017, Tom Tugendhat was elected to chair the Foreign Affairs Committee, becoming the youngest person to hold the post.

In February 2018, Tom Tugendhat praised Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

At the 2019 general election, Tom Tugendhat was again re-elected, seeing his share of the vote fall slightly to 62.8 per cent, but with an increased majority of 26,941.

In July 2022, Tom Tugendhat ran in the first Conservative Party leadership election of that year, following Prime Minister Boris Johnson's resignation, and was eliminated in the third round of parliamentary voting with 31 votes.

On 6 September 2022, Tom Tugendhat was appointed Minister of State for Security in the Home Office as part of Liz Truss's cabinet; he had supported Truss's candidacy over her rival Rishi Sunak.

Tom Tugendhat was retained in this role by the Sunak government.

In June 2023, Tom Tugendhat decided to join official talks with a government minister of Taiwan, breaking convention on the topic of mutual security interests.

On 7 November 2018, Tom Tugendhat gave a speech on "community conservatism" at an event organised by the Social Market Foundation.

Tom Tugendhat described how his military experience had drawn him into politics and outlined several ways in which the government could encourage businesses to better serve the communities in which they operate.

In September 2024 during the leadership election, Tom Tugendhat pledged to implement a 100,000 annual net migration cap citing pressure on housing, infrastructure and public services.

On 29 May 2018, Tom Tugendhat set out his own views on British foreign policy in a speech at the Royal United Services Institute.

Tom Tugendhat advocated giving the FCO greater powers to determine overall foreign policy strategy.

Tom Tugendhat is considered to be a China hawk in the House of Commons, alongside Bob Seely and Sir Iain Duncan Smith.

On Twitter, Tom Tugendhat said that this was sent by the Chinese authorities to threaten him, though this was not independently verified.

On 26 March 2021, it was announced that Tom Tugendhat was one of five MPs to be sanctioned by China for spreading what it called "lies and disinformation" about the country.

Tom Tugendhat was banned from entering China, Hong Kong and Macau, and Chinese citizens and institutions are prohibited from doing business with him.

Tom Tugendhat condemned the United Nations Security Council for its official criticism of Israel's building settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Tom Tugendhat's wife Anissia Morel is a lawyer and senior French civil servant.

Tom Tugendhat's paternal grandfather was an Austrian Jewish emigre from Vienna, who converted to Catholicism.

On 17 November 2022 at Westminster Magistrates' Court, Tom Tugendhat was banned from driving for six months after driving while holding his mobile phone, on 14 April 2022.

Tom Tugendhat received six points on his licence for the offence, in addition to six he already had for two previous driving offences.

Tom Tugendhat is an Honorary Professor in the Strategy and Security Institute at the University of Exeter.

Tom Tugendhat was sworn of His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council on 13 September 2022 at Buckingham Palace, giving him the honorific prefix "The Right Honourable" for life.