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.’ Ouch.
Then it was time for the main event: keynote speaker Tom Tugendhat. With one eye perhaps on the future, the Security Minister wisely decided to eschew any Tory attacks. As he told the room ‘We’re not interested in blue on blue, we’re interested in blue on red and blue on yellow’. Cue cheers all round. And unlike other colleagues, Tugendhat at least showed a willingness to go for the Opposition – rather than those (nominally) on his side. ‘Sir Ed Davey is finally getting the publicity he craves’ he told the room ‘just not the publicity he thinks he deserves!’. Tugendhat then turned his guns on the Labour leadership too: ‘Sir Keir Starmer has had more positions than the Karma Sutra – but not been able to hold any of them longer than a teenager on prom night.’
Even ministerial transparency can only go so far…
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