Paul Athans and Ed McGuinness were the Conservative candidates in Hazel Grove and Surrey Heath at the last election
The Lib Dems hammered three points at the last election: the NHS is broken, sewage has flowed into our rivers, and the Tories are to blame.
Rebutting the NHS and sewage critics was possible. On sewage, we had an impressive record. We expanded river pollution monitoring from 7 per cent to 100 per cent and lifted the cap on fines for water companies who polluted.
Yes, the pandemic took its toll on the NHS which valiantly served the people of this country. But, compared with Labour-run Wales, NHS waiting times in England are 40 per cent lower.
The Lib Dem attacks were underpinned by weak, wafer-thin alternative policies. Policies that we as a party should have easily been able to slap down and counter with our arguments.
But it didn’t matter. For too long when voters looked at their government, they didn’t see leadership and service. Instead, they saw disunity and factionalism. A party too busy fighting each other than fighting for them. Disunity only highlighted where we failed to deliver – from tax cuts to immigration – and distracted from what we had delivered.
We had lost the public’s trust. This was the case long before the Lib Dem attack lines started to land with voters in Tory heartlands.
What could we do? Before we even knocked on voters’ doors, they had made up their minds. Yes, we could go ‘hyper-local’. Indeed, both of us spoke about local issues and tried to create personal connections. Athans spoke about his record as an Army Officer; McGuinness, a background in both the Royal Artillery and business.
But voters were fed up. And the Lib Dems simply pushed on an open door.
If we want to win back the seats we lost to the Lib Dems, the answer is simple: unite and rebuild trust. We need a leader who can do this and deliver an agenda based on traditional conservative values and delivery.
That’s why we’re backing Tom Tugendhat. He is the best person to draw a line under the past and win back the votes we lost to the Liberal Democrats.
He is the most popular candidate with the public, as polls have shown. That’s because he isn’t trying to be Reform-lite. We don’t need someone who will divide our Party and push those who have defected to the Lib Dems even further away. He is simply a commonsense Conservative which everyone in our Party can get behind.
And this is shown by those who are endorsing him. From Damian Green, the former chair of the One Nation Caucus, to Steve Baker, former European Research Group chair. From Jake Berry in the North to Simon Jupp down South. And from former MPs like Sara Britcliffe to the new generation from the 2024 intake, with Patrick Spencer and Dr Neil Shastri-Hurst.
But, he doesn’t just say he is a conservative, he has demonstrated it time and again. He has always stood up for what he believes in. He stood against the National Insurance rise. He stood against vaccine passports. And as our leader he will stand for traditional conservative values this country was built on.
And this highlights the second characteristic we need in a leader. We don’t just need a unifier behind Tory values. We need someone who can deliver. A leader who will do what he says. And that is what he has proven throughout his career, both in and out of Parliament.
During operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, he stood up and fought against our country’s enemies.
In Parliament, he refused to back down to threats from China, Russia, and Iran and was sanctioned as a result of his principles.
Around the Cabinet table, he kept our nation safe and ensured more Russian and Chinese spies were arrested and charged than in the previous decade.
And now he is promising to go further. As candidates, we know CCHQ – let alone the Party’s campaigning apparatus – is broken. And Tugendhat’s pledge to reform CCHQ from the ground up with members and local associations at its heart is exactly what we need.
The Lib Dems now have 72 MPs. To form a Government at the next election, we must win back our voters in the new Lib Dem battlegrounds. For us, only Tugendhat understands the path to victory and, crucially, is the only one who will take us there.
Paul Athans and Ed McGuinness were the Conservative candidates in Hazel Grove and Surrey Heath at the last election
The Lib Dems hammered three points at the last election: the NHS is broken, sewage has flowed into our rivers, and the Tories are to blame.
Rebutting the NHS and sewage critics was possible. On sewage, we had an impressive record. We expanded river pollution monitoring from 7 per cent to 100 per cent and lifted the cap on fines for water companies who polluted.
Yes, the pandemic took its toll on the NHS which valiantly served the people of this country. But, compared with Labour-run Wales, NHS waiting times in England are 40 per cent lower.
The Lib Dem attacks were underpinned by weak, wafer-thin alternative policies. Policies that we as a party should have easily been able to slap down and counter with our arguments.
But it didn’t matter. For too long when voters looked at their government, they didn’t see leadership and service. Instead, they saw disunity and factionalism. A party too busy fighting each other than fighting for them. Disunity only highlighted where we failed to deliver – from tax cuts to immigration – and distracted from what we had delivered.
We had lost the public’s trust. This was the case long before the Lib Dem attack lines started to land with voters in Tory heartlands.
What could we do? Before we even knocked on voters’ doors, they had made up their minds. Yes, we could go ‘hyper-local’. Indeed, both of us spoke about local issues and tried to create personal connections. Athans spoke about his record as an Army Officer; McGuinness, a background in both the Royal Artillery and business.
But voters were fed up. And the Lib Dems simply pushed on an open door.
If we want to win back the seats we lost to the Lib Dems, the answer is simple: unite and rebuild trust. We need a leader who can do this and deliver an agenda based on traditional conservative values and delivery.
That’s why we’re backing Tom Tugendhat. He is the best person to draw a line under the past and win back the votes we lost to the Liberal Democrats.
He is the most popular candidate with the public, as polls have shown. That’s because he isn’t trying to be Reform-lite. We don’t need someone who will divide our Party and push those who have defected to the Lib Dems even further away. He is simply a commonsense Conservative which everyone in our Party can get behind.
And this is shown by those who are endorsing him. From Damian Green, the former chair of the One Nation Caucus, to Steve Baker, former European Research Group chair. From Jake Berry in the North to Simon Jupp down South. And from former MPs like Sara Britcliffe to the new generation from the 2024 intake, with Patrick Spencer and Dr Neil Shastri-Hurst.
But, he doesn’t just say he is a conservative, he has demonstrated it time and again. He has always stood up for what he believes in. He stood against the National Insurance rise. He stood against vaccine passports. And as our leader he will stand for traditional conservative values this country was built on.
And this highlights the second characteristic we need in a leader. We don’t just need a unifier behind Tory values. We need someone who can deliver. A leader who will do what he says. And that is what he has proven throughout his career, both in and out of Parliament.
During operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, he stood up and fought against our country’s enemies.
In Parliament, he refused to back down to threats from China, Russia, and Iran and was sanctioned as a result of his principles.
Around the Cabinet table, he kept our nation safe and ensured more Russian and Chinese spies were arrested and charged than in the previous decade.
And now he is promising to go further. As candidates, we know CCHQ – let alone the Party’s campaigning apparatus – is broken. And Tugendhat’s pledge to reform CCHQ from the ground up with members and local associations at its heart is exactly what we need.
The Lib Dems now have 72 MPs. To form a Government at the next election, we must win back our voters in the new Lib Dem battlegrounds. For us, only Tugendhat understands the path to victory and, crucially, is the only one who will take us there.