EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND - APRIL 13: Former Scottish Conservatives leader Ruth Davidson is seen during a canvassing event on April 13, 2022 in Edinburgh, Scotland. Local elections in Scotland will be held on May 5, 2022. (Photo by Peter Summers/Getty Images)

The right has no path to victory without also winning back voters who defected from the Conservatives to the Liberal Democrats in 2024. Recent Tory defections to Reform have made that job easier for Kemi Badenoch, says Alys Denby

Wet Wet Wet is the name of the musical outfit behind “Love is All Around”, which Kemi Badenoch has revealed accompanied the first dance at her wedding. But it could also describe Prosper UK, a new movement led by Andy Street and Ruth Davidson to promote a return to pro-business, centre-right politics within the Conservative Party.

The former Scottish Conservative leader and the former West Midlands Mayor have won the backing of other ex-Tory heavyweights like Amber Rudd, David Gauke, Michael Heseltine, Philip Hammond, Justine Greening and Ken Clarke. It’s easy to dismiss as a roster of hasbeens. City AM contributor William Atkinson evoked that mood of futility, tweeting a list of the group’s supporters captioned: “If I should die, think only this of me: There is some corner of the Conservative Party that is forever 2015.”

Well full disclosure, I liked 2015. I........

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