Tory leadership hopeful Tom Tugendhat channels his inner Dumbledore in TV debate

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Conservative leadership hopeful Tom Tugendhat appeared to channel his inner Albus Dumbledore as the first of three live TV debates kicked off tonight.

Channel 4 moderator Krishnan Guru-Murthy asked each of the five candidates why the public should trust any of them.

Mr Tugendhat told the audience of floating voters that trust in politics ‘has been collapsing’ and promised a ‘clean start’ – the phrase which is his campaign slogan.

He then went on: ‘What I’ve been calling out and what I’ve been demonstrating over the last few years is I’m someone who fights and I’m willing to call out my friends as well as my enemies.

Tom Tugendhat pictured during Channel 4’s live debate (Picture: Tom Nicholson/REX/Shutterstock)

‘It’s easy to stand up to your enemies – it’s sometimes harder to stand up to your friends.

‘We all know that.’

Social media users were quick to point out the similarities between the line and Dumbledore’s tribute to Neville Longbottom in the Philosopher’s Stone, when he says: ‘There are all kinds of courage.

‘It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends.’

He said the real question to be considered is: ‘Who is this Government for? It’s not for us, it’s not for any of us.’

Asked why he didn’t call for Boris Johnson to go, Mr Tugendhat insisted he made it ‘very clear’ how he felt about the PM ‘from the beginning’.

The five candidates were later asked to give a yes/no answer on whether Boris Johnson was honest.

Kemi Badenoch told the Channel 4 debate: ‘Sometimes.’

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Penny Mordaunt said: ‘There have been some really severe issues and I think he has paid a price for that.’

Rishi Sunak said: ‘I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt for as long as possible and ultimately I reached the conclusion that I couldn’t, and that’s why I resigned… There were a number of reasons that I resigned but trust and honesty was part of that.’

Liz Truss said ‘he has been very clear himself that he made mistakes in Government’ but she had taken his explanation for inaccurate statements over partygate ‘at face value’.

Asked the same question about whether Boris Johnson was an honest man, Mr Tugendhat said: ‘No.’

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