Tom Tugendhat

Tugendhat was re-elected chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee on 29 January 2020.

In April 2020 Tugenhat became the first head of the China Research Group, formed by Conservative MPs to gain a "better understanding of China's economic ambitions and global role". This is to include Huawei's role in the UK's 5G network, China's CV-19 disinformation campaign, and its foreign policy - in particular its relations with poorer regions of the world.

Tugendhat was a participant at the 30 May–2 June 2019 Bilderberg Meeting in Montreux, Switzerland.

Following the December 2019 general election he attacked the antisemitism he had faced during the campaign. "It was a campaign that wasn't as always as clean as previous ones. For the first time I faced antisemitism, which I found particularly offensive and very surprising for a community like this and frankly rather distasteful. It's very un-Tonbridge, it's very un-Kent and it's very un-British. ... I would hope that type of attitude is going to leave our politics for good."

On 21 May 2018, the Foreign Affairs Committee published a report on Russian Corruption and the UK. This drew attention to the ability of President Vladimir Putin and his allies to launder assets through London, and called on the UK Government to "show stronger political leadership in ending the flow of dirty money into the UK". The report criticised the law firm Linklaters for its unwillingness to give evidence to the committee about the nature of working in the Russian Federation today.

On 29 May 2018 Tugendhat set out his own views on British foreign policy in a speech at the Royal United Services Institute. He advocated giving the Foreign and Commonwealth Office greater powers to determine overall foreign policy strategy.

On 7 November 2018 Tugendhat gave a speech on "community conservatism" at an event organised by the Social Market Foundation. In it he described how his military experience had drawn him into politics and outlined several ways in which the government could encourage businesses to better serve the communities in which they operate.

On 12 July 2017, Tugendhat was elected chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, becoming the youngest person ever to hold the post. Soon after the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury by a nerve agent, Tugendhat said the attack was "if not an act of war … certainly a warlike act by the Russian Federation".

Tugendhat supported continued membership of the European Union in the 2016 referendum. He voted in favour of the withdrawal agreement negotiated by Theresa May's government on each of the three occasions it was put to a vote.

Tugendhat was elected as the Member of Parliament for Tonbridge and Malling, the safe Conservative seat in Kent at the 2015 General Election, with an increased vote share and larger majority than his predecessor.

In the 2010 New Year Honours, Tugendhat was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE). In July 2013, he was awarded the Volunteer Reserves Service Medal for ten years' service in the Territorial Army.

He was promoted to lieutenant on 16 July 2005, captain on 1 April 2007, and to major on 1 January 2010. He was apparently operating as a Territorial Army lieutenant colonel by July 2013.

On 6 July 2003, Tugendhat was commissioned into the Educational and Training Services Branch of the Adjutant General's Corps, Territorial Army, British Army, as a second lieutenant (on probation). His Territorial Army commission was confirmed on 16 July 2003. He transferred to the Intelligence Corps on 29 July 2003.

Lt Col Thomas Georg John Tugendhat MBE VR (born 27 June 1973) is a British Conservative Party politician. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Tonbridge and Malling since May 2015. Since 12 July 2017, Tugendhat has served as chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee. Before entering politics, amongst other roles, Tugendhat was a Territorial Army officer in the British Army.