The word “Dumbledore” quickly became popular Twitter when the former military officer quoted JK Rowling’s character from her beloved Harry Potter series after an audience member asked him, “Why should the public trust you?”
Mr Tugendhat, 49, echoed Dumbledore’s sentiment when he told the debate: “It’s easy to stand up to your enemies – it’s sometimes harder to stand up to your friends.”
He spoke while acknowledging that “trust in politics has collapsed, confidence in our party is collapsing”, adding: “I have held a mirror up to many of our actions and those in our party, those in our leadership positions, asked, wondering ‘is that what the public really expects?’
“Do you serve the people of the UK or do you serve your career? Because that’s the real question tonight.
“That’s the real question for all of us.”
Twitter users were quick to notice the resemblance to Dumbledore’s famous quote, “It takes a lot of courage to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends,” before he Marcel Langbottom awarded 10 points for Gryffindor in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.
“Is Tom Tugendhat a Harry Potter fan?” one person wrote.
“Don’t think any of us expected Tom Tugendhat to come right out the gate with a direct quote from Dumbledore,” said another.
Mr Tugendhat joined fellow Tory leadership candidates Kemi Badenoch, Penny Mordaunt, Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss in Friday’s debate hosted by Krishan Guru-Murthy.