She’s at odds with old school Tories. This is Matthew Parrish this morning
Before that dinner I'd looked in at an inaugural reception for a Tory movement that is to call itself Prosper. Leading figures like Ruth Davidson (coming out of retirement from Scottish Conservative politics) and Andy Street (the former John Lewis boss and former mayor of the West Midlands) spoke movingly. Prosper's aim is to reinvigorate centrism within their party, believing (as I do) that millions of moderate voters of a Conservative-ish disposition are looking for a home. Prosper wants to counter any pressure on Kemi Badenoch to out-Farage Reform.
The reception was packed. It felt like a safe space, almost a refuge, for moderate Tories. All my old mates were there — John Gummer, Dominic Grieve, David Gauke, Oliver Letwin, Amber Rudd, Virginia Bottomley — staring around with relief in our eyes: relief that we're all still here, that a cause unites us, that moderate Toryism is not dead. But there were plenty of younger people too, new to politics, attracted by the idea that the centre-right need not be reactionary, not be defined by anger, not impelled by dislike of our own country or a Gradgrind hostility towards the idea that government can help.
Kemi has a choice. She can and should see Prosper as a vital recruiting sergeant for the gentler kind of middle-of-the-road voters whose support she needs if they are not to be seduced by the say-anything Lib Dems. But will she? I'm horribly unsure.