Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat has officially launched his bid to become party leader.

The former security minister is a Catholic, and a member of parliament’s Conservative Christian Fellowship. He studied Theology at Bristol University, before joining the armed forces.

Announcing his bid in Westminster, he apologised for his party’s “disrespect and double standards” throughout previous administrations.

“I witnessed the recent political trauma with a combination of depression and anger,” he said.

He declared that he is not a “centrist” candidate, but a conservative. Among his policies was a pledge to cap immigration at 100,000 people per year.

He continued: “An honest and open conversation about population size is the only way to have a country that is happy with itself."

Tugendhat also said that he believed Britain should "opt out from some aspects” of the European Convention on Human Rights, “and reform others."

The leadership hopeful has been sanctioned by both China and Russia for speaking against the threat they pose to the West.

Speaking to the Conservative Christian Fellowship in July, he claimed that Keir Starmer’s King’s Speech talks about control. "About your life not being your own [and] the state’s role in telling you how to live that life.”

On Wednesday, the first round of Conservative leadership voting will take place, through which one candidate will be eliminated.