One Nation launch charm offensive at new years’ bash

Bright young things mixed with old survivors at the Reform Club tonight. From the backbenches to the cabinet, the great and the good of the Tory left were out in force at the One Nation Conservatives’ new years’ drinks. With the Rwanda Bill returning to the Commons next week, all eyes are on the group in their battle with the Tory right. And doing his bit for Conservative relations was Matt Warman MP, who began the night with a few jokes at the expense of certain colleagues.

He told the 200-strong audience that, unlike other factions, the One Nation caucus doesn’t have to pretend they’re ‘five families’ to ‘make ourselves look bigger than we are’. Nor, Warman continued, does his faction have to self-identify as ‘common sense’ like a self-proclaimed ‘democratic republic’ communist country. Having proceeded to take a pop at the European Research Group and Common Sense Group, Warman then made it a hattrick by jibing at the New Conservatives: ‘We haven’t had to put “new” in the title because we’ve been around long enough to win more than one election.’