Tom Tugendhat will be taken down, because that is what party machines do. But what do his new fans find attractive about this Saudi shill, anyway? They do not normally go for German names, for dual British and French nationals, for French wives, for French mothers, for family ties to the heart of the French legal and diplomatic elites, for British uncles who were First Vice-Presidents of the European Commission, or for votes in favour of Theresa May's Withdrawal Agreement on all three occasions.
Tugendhat is a classic neocon in that he screams "anti-Semitism" at his opponents even though he is not Jewish, but this Theology degree might make things difficult for a certain Times staffer with the same nasty habit. We remember.
As for Tugendhat's military record in Afghanistan, which supposedly entitles him to demand fighting to the last drop of other people's blood, he was officially deployed as a TA schoolie before being openly acknowledged as a spook 13 days later. When he was "helping to set up the National Security Council of Afghanistan and the government in Helmand Province," then he was classified as a civilian. All in all, he has the strong whiff of Captain Darling in Blackadder Goes Fourth.
You've got his number.
ReplyDeleteI am not the only one. Backbenchers do not get convention-busting rounds of applause at all, much less for speeches attacking the Government and the Prime Minister. That kind of thing will be dealt with.
DeleteTherefore, Tugendhat now stands little chance of being a Conservative Party candidate at the next General Election, he stands less chance than that of being Chairman or even a member of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee at the end of this Parliament, and he stands absolutely no chance of ever becoming a Minister.