Lieutenant Colonel Tobias Martin Ellwood VR (born 12 August 1966) is a former British Conservative Party politician and soldier who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bournemouth East from 2005 to 2024.

[1] After completing the Regular Army commissioning course at Sandhurst he joined the Royal Green Jackets in 1991,[2] and transferred from the active list to the Reserve of Officers in 1996 having reached the rank of captain.

[8] A supporter of David Cameron's campaign for the leadership of the Conservative Party, Ellwood was appointed to the Opposition Whips Office in December 2005.

In the July 2007 reshuffle, Cameron promoted Ellwood to his frontbench team as Shadow Minister for Culture, Media and Sport, with specific responsibilities for gambling, licensing and tourism.

He was criticised in the press after reportedly describing Liverpudlian landlords taking over pubs in his constituency as "criminals" in 2009; Ellwood said the comments had been taken out of context.

[11] In 2011, Ellwood served on the Special Select Committee set up to scrutinise the Bill which became the Armed Forces Act 2011.

[17][18] In September 2015, the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority named Ellwood and 25 current and former MPs who failed to settle a total of approximately £2,000 the previous year in overclaimed expenses, forcing them to be written off.

[21] On 22 March 2017, during a terrorist attack on Parliament, Ellwood gave mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and CPR to police officer Keith Palmer,[22] who later died of his injuries.

[23] Ellwood was called a "hero" by those at Westminster and the press, as photos surfaced of him with blood on his face while he crouched over the body of the dying police officer.

[23] Consequently, Ellwood received a lot of praise on social media for his actions,[24] as well as being promised an appointment to the Privy Council for his response in the attack.

[32] He was criticised for his decision to attend by Home Secretary Priti Patel, who said, "Having dinner... outside of the rules with a large number of people is a breach of the regulations.

[41] In July 2023, Ellwood called on both the Conservatives and Labour to speak in favour of the idea that the United Kingdom needed to rejoin the Single Market to secure its economic prosperity.

[42] On 17 July 2023 Ellwood published a video statement praising Taliban rule in the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan for "vastly improving" the security of the country, introducing agricultural reforms, and promoting solar energy, while urging engagement with the Taliban to avoid Afghanistan becoming a "Chinese vassal".

[47] In September 2018, Ellwood announced that he had been promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel as a reservist in the 77th Brigade,[48] based at Denison Barracks, Hermitage, Berkshire,[49] a psychological operations unit responsible for 'non-lethal' warfare which disseminates government-friendly podcasts and videos.

His brother, Jonathan, who was director of studies at the International School Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, was killed in the 2002 Bali bombing.