𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Kemi Badenoch showed at her party conference why a deal with Reform would be utterly mad for both sides. The Conservative leader has faced constant speculation over her leadership skills since the start and her low key style has only fuelled the criticism. But her main speech reminded members why they elected her in the first place – she is a Conservative to her core.

Axing stamp duty, paying down the country’s debts, encouraging personal responsibility, believing work is not only necessary but good for people, these are all key Tory values. Reform is evolving into a completely different party. Immigration is top of its list of issues, a concern shared by Badenoch’s party. But economically, they are poles apart.

Reform wants the two child benefit cap to be lifted so large families are not penalised. It is less hostile to a big costly state and high welfare bill.

There are regular calls from senior Tories, including Jacob Rees-Mogg, to “unite the right” by encouraging both parties to form some sort of electoral pact. But Reform is not a party of the right, it is a party out on its own. A magpie who takes from both sides of the traditional political divide.

At an event at the Reform party conference a few weeks ago, I pointed out that Nigel Farage, a former Thatcherite, was now far more comfortable with a high spending state than he had been a decade ago. Gawain Towler, who has worked for Farage in various capacities for two decades, put the change of mindset down to the leader’s travels up and down the country.

He said that while the Reform leader had personally enjoyed the benefits of Thatcherism as a young man in the City, he had gone on to see the impact some of her policies had on communities across the country.

For all that both leaders share a desire to crack down on illegal migration and bring down the numbers of legal migrants, philosophically they are in very different places.

Talks of mergers, pacts and cooperation are a recipe for disaster. The Conservative party is at its very core a small-state, pro-business, low-tax party and is now returning to those values. Voters will have a choice at the general election between two parties who have the same approach on migration but differ significantly on the economy.

Author and journalist Matthew Syed gave a well-received speech at the Tory conference announcing he had joined the party because he is concerned about the country’s economic future. He described Farage as a socialist and warned that a high-debt, high-tax future will harm the nation. Shockingly, he pointed out that 53% of the population now takes out more from the state than they put in.

In the conference bars there was plenty of chatter about defections to Reform. But it’s becoming harder not to conclude that those Tories considering switching are thinking about their own political fortunes rather than suddenly being won over by matters of principle.

John Whittingdale, who was Margaret Thatcher’s political secretary, said she would never have contemplated such a move because she was a true Conservative. Are those jumping ship pragmatic or unprincipled?

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Speaking of Mrs T, it is time we stopped speaking about her quite so much. It is 100 years since The Lady’s birth and she continues to loom large over the Conservative party.

When she was born, class divides were rigid, television was in its infancy and only the most wealthy owned a car. Now most people carry a computer in their pocket that allows them to make phone calls, send messages and find out anything they want to know in a second.

Artificial intelligence is beginning to take hold and it has the potential to wreak as much turmoil on the way people work as the industrial revolution.

There are huge challenges ahead in making sure younger generations will have the jobs and money to live well. Thatcher was the most successful Conservative leader and the party’s most important since the war.

Tories should hold on to her values but after marking the anniversary on Monday, the party must start looking forward instead of back.

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I was horrified to learn over dinner at the Conservative conference that some couples use their mobile phones to track each other’s movements. I was even more horrified to learn some friends also do this to each other now and it’s considered completely normal behaviour.

Apparently it’s for “safety” reasons, but when did Britain become such a dangerous place that you have to be monitored at every given second in case you are suddenly snatched by a marauding gang while you are loading the weekly shop into the boot of your car?

It sounds like stalking to me.

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As I write this, Israel and Hamas have agreed to a peace deal. I hope by the time you read this that it remains in place. History shows us the odds are stacked against a lasting agreement but the conflict started by the atrocity waged by Hamas on October 7 is something that must be brought to an end.

Under the agreement, all of the remaining Israeli hostages along with a number of Palestinian prisoners will be released. Israeli forces will pull back and aid will be able to enter more freely into Gaza.

While it is a crucial step on the road to ending the war there are many potential stumbling blocks ahead. But it is the first real chance of some form of peace in two years. We can only hope that it becomes a lasting reality.

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Fun has gone out of fashion. The finger-waggers won that war a long time ago. Younger people spend more time in the gym than the pub and scrolling social media than finding a partner.

But I’m convinced the world would be a better place if people listened to the advice of Jilly Cooper, who sadly died this week, instead of the many nanny state ninnies paid to tell us how to live a long (and it feels like it) life. Fuelled by a sense of mischief and quite a lot of champagne, Cooper understood how to live well.

As well as the many bonkbusters she wrote, she also published a guide on how to stay married. One of the tips was to swallow your pride if your partner points out your bad habits and knock them on the head (the habits, not the husband!). Hers were smoking, eating apples in bed and cooking in a fur coat.

Other pearls of wisdom included to always wear a bra to parties, flirt with your in-laws, don’t share a razor but do share a bed and don’t decorate together. But most important of all was to give your partner a “merry and loving heart” – and who can argue with that?