Boris pulls out of levelling up conference

To Doncaster, home of the horses and the Northern Research Group conference. But there was only one race on the lips of attendees at the Doncaster track today: the leadership race. To the disappointment of the assembled Tory MPs, Boris Johnson pulled out of a scheduled afternoon appearance to visit Kyiv. He was meant to be the star turn at the conference as part of a bid to win back wavering MPs since last week’s confidence vote. One disgruntled backbencher told Mr S: ‘I’m quite pissed off to be honest. Him coming was the whole point.’ Members of the NRG had planned to present the PM with a list of demands to maintain the Tory grip on the Red Wall at the next election. Instead, Michael Gove appeared on Zoom.

Ready to take Johnson’s place though were several ambitious upstarts, who may well foster leadership hopes of their own. Take Dehenna Davison, the power-dressing symbol of the 2019 intake.