Following the elimination of Attorney General Suella Braverman on Thursday, Mr Tugendhat is feeling the pressure to win votes. Former Treasury Secretary Rishi Sunak leads the race with 101 votes, followed by Penny Mordaunt with 83 and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss with 64.
Unfortunately for Mr Tugendhat, he came fifth after Kemi Badenoch with 49 votes and only got 32 votes while the Attorney General got 27 votes.
However, the MP for Tonbridge and Malling and his team are adamant that he will fight his way through Friday and Sunday’s televised debates and win votes.
A friend of the former soldier spoke about Mr Tugendhat’s race and said: “This was always about getting the debates.
“He is a very good public speaker. There are others that are less good.
“We are looking forward to the debates as we think this is a good opportunity for Tom to shine in a natural environment and put pressure on the others.”
They added that Mr Tugendhat would be a “clean start” as the only candidate not in government.
However, GB news presenter Dan Wootton doubted the MPs’ chances of success, accusing him of losing “all momentum” as he spoke to Mr Stanley.
The journalist replied: “He is the underdog. There will be debates and I have always felt with Tom that the more people meet and hear about him, the more they will love him.
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“My support for him is not ideological… I think if you choose someone to be prime minister, I don’t think it should be based purely on some sort of tick and ‘do you agree with me on this position or that position? ?’, actually it should be judged on character and experience.
“And in Tom’s case, I’ve known him personally for a long time, I trust him, he’s someone I would trust with my life, my dog’s life and also my country and even if I don’t agree with him on anything I think he has that character and experience to do the job.”
He added: “I hope he will shine in these debates and as it will get a bit clogged in the coming days I think some MPs may start thinking: did I make the right choice with Penny? Did I make the right choice with Rishi?’ and maybe he’ll get a few more votes.
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“We’ll see how far he goes.”
After the televised debates, voting will resume on Monday and will continue until only two candidates are left.
These candidates will then be voted on by Tory members and the new leader of the Conservative Party and so the new prime minister is expected to be announced on September 5.