Tom Tugendhat may be the surprise contender, but he represents true Tory values

His establishment background will appeal to old-school Tories tiring of former newspaper columnist Boris Johnson’s crowd-pleasing approach, writes Andrew Woodcock

It seems inevitable there will be a determined attempt among Conservatives to ditch Europhobia and steer back towards the principles which have traditionally allowed them to present themselves as the sensible party (Getty)

One intriguing consequence of Rishi Sunak’s precipitous fall from favour over the past week has been the sudden surge in interest in an MP little known outside Westminster: Tonbridge’s Tom Tugendhat.

As the chancellor vanished from the leaderboards in the wake of The Independent’s exposure of his wife’s non-dom status, the son of a judge and former soldier shot up from rank outsider status to be rated second favourite to succeed Boris Johnson, by some bookies, after foreign secretary Liz Truss.

Now, the fact that a few political obsessives (and who else is betting on the Tory leadership rather than football or the horses?) have punted a fiver on the 48-year-old’s future clearly doesn’t mean that a backbencher with no ministerial experience is suddenly going to stroll into No 10.