To committee room 14, where many of the remaining 117 Tory MPs crammed in tonight to hear from their leader. Kemi Badenoch was welcomed with 25 seconds of prolonged banging from her colleagues, after a week in which, first Robert Jenrick, and then Andrew Rosindell chose to defect to Reform. Having addressed both the right-wing 92 Group and Common Sense Group on Monday, Badenoch sought to build on that speech and put recent controversies to bed.

She told assembled MPs that, with regards to Jenrick, ‘We lost someone not on ideology, but personal ambition’ before suggesting that the real question ought to be ‘What are we winning for?’ Arguing that the ‘Conservative party remains the best vehicle to deliver proper conservatism’, she suggested that ‘an unholy alliance of Reform, with some on the left of our........

© The Spectator