Tom Tugendhat’s Tory leadership campaign mocked for ‘Turd’ acronym

Former security minister’s slogan altered after eagle-eyed social media users spot scatological shorthand

From Donald Trump’s “Make America great again” (Maga) to Margaret Thatcher’s “There is no alternative” (Tina), political acronyms have long distilled what leaders stand for. Tom Tugendhat has now inadvertently created his own four-letter calling card: Turd.

The Tory leadership hopeful briefly adopted the slogan “Together we can, Unite the party. Rebuild trust. Defeat Labour” when he launched his bid on Wednesday. A graphic breaking it down into four lines was visible on his campaign website.