Tory leadership hopeful Tom Tugendhat has called for the military to be involved in tackling illegal migration in the way the Royal Navy helped stop slavery.

He said it was not ‘wrong or nasty to be against illegal migration’ and tackling human trafficking gangs was the ‘moral thing to do’.

He said the UK’s national security ‘demands the same level of commitment’ the Royal Navy showed ‘in the fight against slavery almost 200 years ago’ – which cost the equivalent of around £50 billion a year.

He cited the effectiveness of the navy’s West Africa Squadron, which was used to suppress the Atlantic slave trade for half a century after the barbaric practice was banned across the British Empire in 1808.

A recording of Mr Tugendhat’s speech, delivered at Kensington, Bayswater, Chelsea and Fulham Conservatives association on August 14, was obtained by The Times.

The newspaper reported that he told Tory members: ‘Human trafficking is costing thousands of lives and being weaponised by the Kremlin and its proxies. The UK must show the same determination and commitment to fighting this evil trade as we did in fighting slavery.

‘We need to see our military engaged in fighting this threat.

‘Deaths in the Channel, the Mediterranean and the Sahara show how evil the traffickers are.

‘(Vladimir) Putin’s puppets use human beings by smuggling them into Belarus and then pushing them over the border into Nato countries including Poland and Lithuania.

‘We need to stand with our allies and defend Europe’s land and sea borders by deploying naval and military forces to protect ourselves and deter this cruel trade.

‘We need determined leadership in the fight against those who traffic people and undermine our borders. As security minister, I commissioned work to combat the traffickers as part of a strategic, intelligence-led approach.

‘Our national security today demands the same level of commitment the Royal Navy’s West Africa Squadron showed in the fight against slavery almost 200 years ago.

‘The tools have changed but the focus remains – human trafficking is evil and we must be serious and invest in long-term commitments, not Labour’s short-term sticking plasters.’

Mr Tugendhat pointed out that funding the effort to fight slavery through the West Africa Squadron had cost the country 2 per cent of GDP, adding: ‘I’m afraid it again looks like we might need to return to that.’

But allies told The Times he was referring to the kind of determination that is needed rather than drawing a direct comparison with how much needs to be spent.

Mr Tugendhat said: ‘I’ve had enough of this idea that it’s somehow wrong or nasty to be against illegal migration.

‘I’ll tell you what’s wrong and nasty: tolerating deaths in the Channel because of illegal migration; tolerating thousands of deaths in the Mediterranean; tolerating tens, even possibly hundreds of thousands of deaths in the Sahara, and in many other places.

‘That’s what’s wrong and nasty, and that’s why I’m going to stop it. The moral thing to do is to stop the illegal trade in human beings.’

Mr Tugendhat’s rivals for the Tory leadership are Kemi Badenoch, Robert Jenrick, James Cleverly, Priti Patel and Mel Stride.

A series of votes when the Commons returns from its summer recess next week will see the field reduced to four, who will make their case to Tory activists at the party’s conference at the end of September.

Further votes by MPs will result in a final pair, with the Tory membership electing the replacement for Rishi Sunak who will be announced on November 2.