Rt Hon Tom Tugendhat MBE VR MP

Tom Tugendhat is a Member of Parliament for Tonbridge and a leading British voice on foreign policy and national security. He currently serves as a Distinguished Fellow at the Hudson Institute in Washington, DC, and is a member of the International Advisory Board at SDA Bocconi School of Management. Additionally, he holds advisory positions with organisations such as Fortify Rights and the tech firm Brox.ai, and serves as a Commissioner for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

Mr Tugendhat served as the Minister of State for Security (Minister for Security) between September 2022 and July 2024, a role in which he attended Cabinet and chaired the Defending Democracy Taskforce. Prior to his ministerial appointment, he gained international recognition as the Chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee (2017–22), where he led influential inquiries into systemic challenges posed by state actors and global instability. He was first elected as an MP in 2015.

Before entering politics, Mr Tugendhat served on active military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. He also worked for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, where he was instrumental in establishing the National Security Council of Afghanistan and the provincial government in Helmand Province. Upon returning to the UK, he served as the military assistant and principal adviser to the Chief of the Defence Staff. He remains an officer in the Army Reserve.

Mr Tugendhat studied Theology at the University of Bristol and holds a master’s degree in Islamic Studies from Cambridge University, which included intensive Arabic language programme in Yemen.