WE’RE now two months into Britain’s new Labour government, and what we’ve seen so far isn’t inspiring.

The winter fuel allowance scrapped, community breakdown on our streets, prisoners released early and taxes going up this autumn, despite promises to the contrary during the election.

If this continues for five years, you’ll have no “change” left in your pockets to visit Edinburgh’s famous Fringe next year, let alone pay for Labour’s tourist tax in the city.

And, while Starmer wreaks havoc in the UK, the SNP remain totally obsessed with student politics. This week, insulting the family of a Jewish Glaswegian killed by Hamas.

Despite all the failures and mistakes, Scottish Labour and the SNP fight it out at the top while we lag badly in third place.

Scotland, and Britain, needs change.

It needs a modern, effective and robust centre-right Conservative Party fighting for common sense.

With Rishi Sunak announcing his resignation that leaves a vacancy at the top for someone able to rebuild our party across the United Kingdom and make us a winning force once again.

We need a leader who understands Scotland and will work with whoever wins the Scottish Conservative leadership election to put us on an election footing for 2026 and beyond.

Here, in Scotland, we’ve been firefighting events from unpopular UK Conservative leaders for far too long, we need a leader in 2026 and the local elections in 2027 who will be an asset for us. Someone who cares passionately about our union and the people of Scotland.

For me, there’s only one man for the job and that’s Tom Tugendhat.

I’ve known Tom for several years now from my work on the Tory Reform Group and I know him to be a man of sound principles, dignity, integrity and honesty.

Tom hasn’t just flown into Scottish Conservative conferences or events when it’s politically convenient, he’s been at our conferences year on year, showing his dedication and understanding of our party, its values and key players here in Scotland.

Labour didn’t win the 2024 election, Conservatives lost it and the reason is quite clear – we lost the trust of the British people.

Partygate, Boris and yes, Liz Truss, led us to a position where all credibility slipped away and we need to be frank and open with the public about that.

We need a leader who isn’t afraid to tell some home truths and one who has duty running through their veins. From his military service to political career, Tom has shown that duty and service matters, it’s country first and party second.

And, with global politics looking as terrifying as it does with war in Europe, the Middle East and a risk to Taiwan we need a leader ready to fight for our democratic values at home and abroad.

I’m honoured to call Tom a friend and come November I’ll be even more proud to call him my boss.

Conservatives must get this right – the nation needs us.