Jeremy Hunt claimed he is "proud" of the NHS and insisted he made it safer during his time as Health Secretary.
Speaking at the first of the Conservative Party leadership election hustings today, the politician praised NHS staff and defended decisions he made during his six years in the role.
But he suggested these will make him a Tory Prime Minister "who isn't going to make [the] biggest priority to court popularity."
During an interview with journalist Iain Dale at the debate, Mr Hunt said: "As Health Secretary, you have to make some tough, life-and-death decisions.
"I'm so proud of it [The NHS].
"It does a fantastic job, and doctors and nurses do an amazing job. They really do."
The audience cheered throughout Mr Hunt's grilling.
The current Foreign Secretary added: "Sometimes we get it wrong and, in order to put things right, I had to fight some tough battles and I hope people can see from that I am the kind of Prime Minister who isn't going to make my biggest priority to court popularity.
"I am going to do the right thing and I do believe the NHS got safer on my watch. I am very proud of the changes I made."
Both Mr Hunt and Boris Johnson's teams shared videos at the husting. The promotional material captured the politicians talking to members of the public.
In Mr Hunt's clip, grieving relatives of those who had died at various UK hospitals praised the way the then Health Secretary helped them.
But Mr Dale quizzed Mr Hunt about whether it was necessary to use such case studies for his campaigning.
The 52-year-old defended this, praising those in the video as "remarkable" whom he claimed said they were happy to be treated as "grieving relatives" rather than statistics.
"Those people did an absolutely remarkable thing. They lost mothers, children, sisters, brothers because of terrible things that went wrong in our health service.
"They decided they were going to relive those terrible tragedies, that terrible sadness every single day because they wanted the NHS to improve. They're campaigners and, for me, they are also kindred spirits because they stood beside me in some of those very difficult battles.
"We've got a long way to go in the NHS but I look at some of the changes happening, I look at some the changes happening at the old Mid Staffs (Staffordshire) Hospital, now County Hospital for instance, and I'm proud.
"Those people in the video are proud of the changes being made."
Mr Hunt was Foreign Secretary from September 2012 to July 2018, first under David Cameron and then Theresa May .
Mrs May made him Foreign Secretary in a drastic cabinet shuffle.
