Two years ago, I wrote an essay here called ‘In praise of Kemi Badenoch’. To say it was admiring is like saying that Abelard quite fancied Heloise. She sent me a nice message on X; I went mildly berserk one evening when drunk and sent her a poem I’d had ChatGPT write, basically saying that she was going to save the world. Our communication understandably dwindled after that, as she probably came to believe I was a crazy person.

To be fair, I also became increasingly taken with Reform; the re-nationalisation plan in particular grabbed me. I wrote about my turncoat ways in the i Paper: ‘When I and millions of other former Labour voters choose Reform at the next general election, it’s not because we’re rabid right-wingers. It’s because we’re done with being lectured by clowns. Keir Starmer gives the impression that he only comes alive in the rarified air of Davos. Ed Davey shows a similar lack of connection, with his numerous conversations about how many women have penises. Kemi Badenoch is likeable but the party she leads spent nearly a decade and a half permitting every source of power from the police to the civil service to be captured and poisoned by anti-democratic, free speech-fearing weirdos,’ I finished treacherously of my erstwhile pin-up. But after hearing Mrs B on Desert Island Discs last week, I’m feeling very inclined to switch sides again.

It’s true that Mrs B served in the Johnson, Sunak and Truss governments, so can’t be strictly said to have clean hands. But her work as minister for women and equalities stands out among the mostly useless and/or destructive cabinets of the three. Besides, if she hadn’t taken her chances and served in office, there would have been no chance of her going on to stand, let alone win, the leadership contest, so needs must. The fact remains that in a political landscape mired in men of a certain sort – the kind that would make you physically leave a party to avoid talking to them for one moment longer – and their ghastly female imitators, Badenoch stands out as somewhat fascinating.

You could make a film about her life (imagine The Keir........

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