The Conservatives have been firmly at the helm in the Tonbridge and Malling constituency since its boundaries were drawn up in 1974. In fact only two people have sat in Parliament representing the area in the last 50 years: Sir John Stanley (1974-2015) and Tom Tugendhat (2015 onwards). The latter, a Home Office minister in charge of security, is so respected within the party that when it came to choosing a successor to Boris Johnson, he was supported in a bid to be the party’s new leader, only to be eliminated in the third round of voting. Closer to home, in the last election in 2019, the form…