Elect Tory leader before Budget, says Tom Tugendhat

In what appeared to be a sarcastic dig at some of his parliamentary colleagues, Mr Tugendhat added that he had “had enough of the games being played in Westminster”.

The MP for Tonbridge is one of four candidates in the race for the Conservative Party leadership.

The other members are James Cleverly, the shadow home secretary, Kemi Badenoch, the shadow housing secretary, and Robert Jenrick, who resigned as immigration secretary last year.

All four will address party stalwarts at the Conservatives’ annual party conference, which begins next weekend, before further rounds of voting by MPs choose the two finalists.

Party members will have the final say on the remaining two candidates. Mr Jenrick has won both parliamentary votes so far, with Ms Badenoch coming second on both occasions.

Elsewhere in the interview, Mr Tugendhat said the Conservative Party was still “the best vehicle for turning the hopes and dreams of the British people into reality”.

He said: “The truth is the opposition really does matter. Having (Jeremy) Corbyn as leader of the opposition has been incredibly toxic for this country…

“I don’t want to be leader of the opposition, I want to be prime minister. And I’m running because I know this Conservative Party can be back in power in five years if we get the right leader, if we focus on the policies that actually make this country strong and we deliver that for the British people.”