Over the last week, I have been stalking Pierre Poilievre. The leader of the Canadian Conservative Party has been in Westminster to renew the bonds of Anglospheric amity; consequently, I had the pleasure of watching him speak on two successive evenings.

The arc of history is long, but it bends towards Robert Jenrick

The arc of history is long, but it bends towards Robert Jenrick

Until a year or so ago, Poilievre was the Prince Across the Atlantic – a punchy and pugnacious Conservative would who had united his party around a popular and populist message of more housebuilding, tackling inflation and championing those working-class voters that Canada’s Liberals had taken for granted for too long. He built a hefty lead over Justin Trudeau and topped the polls among young voters. Especially in the flaming wreckage of the aftermath of the 2024 election, he seemed the perfect model for our Tories to learn from.

And then Donald Trump returned to the White House. Suddenly, the central question of Canadian politics was not whether you could afford a family home, but whether you wanted to be annexed by the US. Since most Canadians did not want to be the 51st state, Poilievre was left somewhat high and dry as a rally-around-the-flag effect benefited the incumbents – especially when Trudeau sodded off to spend more time at Katy Perry concerts and was replaced by the effortlessly smooth and well-CVed Mark Carney. At last April’s election, Poilievre managed to win a healthy 41 per cent of the vote – but Carney won 44 per cent, the highest share for the Liberals since 1984. Poilievre found himself losing his own seat.

But now he is back in Canada’s Parliament, and with Carney still riding high, looking for something to do. Fortunately for Britain, that has manifested itself as a trip to the mother country to meet with politicians, commune with the root of........

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