Tom Tugendhat

And yet, as that woman says, you don't realise for an awful lot of people that's scary.

Tom Tugendhat.

Tom Tugendhat.

But you know what he thinks he's doing there? Do you know what he thinks he's doing? But he's not the governor.

No, I know.

Emily, it's so vague.

I was about to say Wes Creighton does my head in because everything he talks about is the same sort of blank expression.

But Tom Tugendhat just takes the biscuit.

He says he's delivering the biggest sustained increase in defence spending since the end of the Cold War.

Tom Tugendhat is the shadow foreign secretary.

He served as an army officer in both Iraq and Afghanistan and has twice run to be leader of the Conservative Party.

He says we live in the most extraordinary country in the world that has consistently reinvented itself in times of pressure.

Thank you for joining us today.

I'm Miranda Green and I'm joined by my chum Tim Montgomerie and a special guest today we're joined by Tom Tugendhat which is I think the first time that we've actually had a serving frontbencher on our Tom, we're so delighted to have you.

Thank you for joining us.

Not just because you're sort of elevating the status of the podcast with your gracious presence.

But we'll take a break and then we'll come back to the complicated political situation in France, which is the context for the riots over the weekend.

Okay, welcome back.

We are joined this week by a very special guest, Tom Tugendhat.

Thank you for joining us, Tom.

In August, a Brit was killed fighting for Russia.

And this got the attention of a mainstream broadcaster, and they asked Senior Conservative Minister Tom Tugendhat about it.

He said, you know, these are people committing the most barbarous war crimes involved in in the most in the most barbarous war crimes so if they can identify and condemn and and see the urgency of it when it's for for for countries like russia then there should be no no no issue with that same application of logic when it comes to israel

in this case in terms of this school this burning school um i know that these were taken at what was believed to be the al-farabi primary school and in just near to khan unis in southern gaza or sorry in a district of khan unis and according to six witnesses and experts and palestinian civilians sheltered there believing they they would have safety because it was run by unra the palestinian so the un refugee for palestinian refugees it had uh this playground covered in white tall paulins the initials un clearly visible on the roof but then civilians had to flee the site in mid-december 2012 2023 with the israeli army we did what happened what did the israeli army say when you when they were approached for comment

...

Tom Tugendhat was on it.

I mean, the most wet, centrist bloke.

It was the maddest list you can-

But when that threat becomes that bit more immediate, when it's your doorstep that the Russians or whoever it may be are, um, walking along and, um, threatening, you step up because ultimately, if you're the one getting hit, you're gonna fight back or at least defend yourself.

Let's also have a word about this other survey that's come out today done by the Labour MP Al Khan and the Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat, uh, both former members of the Armed Forces.

Six in ten eighteen to twenty-four-year-olds said they would be keen to participate in a year-long paid program with charities, community organizations, emergency services, or the Armed Forces.

Um, now, I was slightly surprised by that, and I said-- I, I guess because it-- maybe if it had concentrated on the Armed Forces, the result might have been a little bit different.