Conservative Tom Tugendhat 'channels Harry Potter wizard Dumbledore' during leadership debate

The leadership contestant, who faced rivals Rishi Sunak, Liz Truss, Penny Mordaunt and Kemi Badenoch, said it was hard to hold his own to your friends when asked if the voter should trust them

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Image: Tom Nicholson/REX/Shutterstock)

Conservative leadership candidate Tom Tugendhat has quoted Harry Potter character Albus Dumbledore as he channeled his inner wizard during tonight's leadership debate.

The word 'Dumbledore' was quickly trending on Twitter when the former military officer quoted JK Rowling's character as saying it's hard to "stand up to your friends".

Asked whether the public should trust those running for prime minister, Mr Tugendhat said: "It's easy to stand up to your enemies - sometimes it's harder to stand up to yours. friends."

It sounds eerily like a line from The Philosopher's Stone - and many quickly caught on.

Mr. Tugendhat spoke while acknowledging that "trust in politics has collapsed, confidence in our party has collapsed", and added, "I held a mirror up to many of our actions and I asked those in our party, those in our leadership positions, to ask themselves "is this really what the public expects?"

A similar line was uttered by Albus Dumbledore in the first Harry Potter film (

Picture:

Warner Brothers)