On 7 May there will be no competition. Reform is predicted to pull off sweeping victories in councils across the country, while the Tories are preparing to shoulder heavy losses. But at the Emmanuel Centre on Wednesday evening, Spectator readers were treated to a fight for the intellectual ground on the right. Representing the teal team, Danny Kruger, Reform MP for Wiltshire tasked with preparing the party for government, and Matt Goodwin, Reform’s candidate in Gorton and Denton, faced off against Claire Coutinho, shadow Secretary for Energy and Net Zero and Minister for Equalities, and Nick Timothy, shadow Secretary of State for Justice and shadow Lord Chancellor, on the Conservative side. The Spectator’s assistant editor, Isabel Hardman, refereed.

Claire Coutinho was ready to accept that Reform’s position on immigration might seem stronger

Claire Coutinho was ready to accept that Reform’s position on immigration might seem stronger

Proceedings were surprisingly amicable. Just days after Reform pledged to hold an inquiry into the ‘Boriswave’, all four speakers maintained that they are close friends. Indeed, Kruger, who defected from the Conservatives in September last year, joked that the event, which saw him debating former colleagues, was ‘a very painful........

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