It’s the Kemi delusion: the more the Tories run towards Reform, the more their voters will run to the Lib Dems | John Harris

The genius of UK Conservatism used to be how it responded to chaos using the balm of tradition. Secondhand Trumpism will only alienate its voters further

What times these are. As Donald Trump’s sellout of Ukraine gains pace, there are reports that Keir Starmer will flatter the president by inviting him to address parliament. Meanwhile, Trump’s British admirers continue to offer flimsy excuses and undimmed admiration. Before Trump paid tribute to Nigel Farage – a “great guy” – in his address to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) gathering in Washington, the MP for Clacton used his time at the same event to “hail” Trump’s “progress” with Vladimir Putin, and salute him as “simply the bravest man that I know”. By way of bathos, the dependably ridiculous Liz Truss had by then told a much smaller crowd that the country she ran for a month and a half is “failing”, and needs its own Trumpian insurgency.

At the top of the party Truss so briefly led, Kemi Badenoch cannot resolve a familiar contradiction – between a dazzled liking of Trump’s ideology, and the political inconvenience of what it means in practice. Late last week, she parroted the obligatory half-arsed rebuttal of Trump’s attack on the Ukrainian president. “President Zelenskyy is not a dictator,” she said, as if that were a revelation. But any observer of her recent engagements will know where her heart really lies.

John Harris is a Guardian columnist

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