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It was billed as an emergency meeting of Tory MPs after a trio of defections to Reform UK, but judging by the noise that greeted Kemi Badenoch it could have been a victory rally.
When the Tory leader entered parliament’s committee room 14 for what could have been an awkward showdown with her backbenchers, the loud banging of desks and cheering lasted 25 seconds.
Cynics will say that the ritual of banging desks for Tory leaders at 1922 Committee meetings is purely for the benefit of journalists in the corridor. And if that’s true, the whips had done their job.
But her MPs liked what they heard in her speech. The Conservative Party would not be moving to the left after the defections and would always be a party of the right, she declared.
The tone of her speech, coming after the defections of Robert Jenrick and Andrew Rosindell, was clearly designed to reassure those Conservative MPs who backed Mr Jenrick in the Tory leadership election.
And speaking to Sky News as she left the meeting, she re-opened her battle with Sir Keir Starmer at Prime Minister’s Questions, insisting: “He’s right on Greenland and wrong on Chagos.”
And attacking Nigel Farage’s backing in Davos for “a strong America in Greenland”, she told Sky News: “People can see the difference between populism and Conservatism.”
An olive branch to Jenrick supporters?
Earlier, one of the first to arrive at the ’22 meeting had been the new Tory peer Sharron Davies, the Olympic swimming silver medallist and women’s campaigner, who only took her seat in the Lords the previous day.
And as Ms Badenoch rose to speak, she immediately dived into Mr Jenrick’s defection, admitting it had left a big gap in…
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