Kemi Badenoch’s anti-woke crusade makes her the perfect Tory leader

“Undeterred by the English middle class’s particular tendency and tenderness towards civility towards absurdities, it has raised the level of common sense amidst the smoke and confusion of a battle that most of us do not want to fight and desires will fade away, but which probably needs to be fought,” he said.

But Sir Geoffrey also praised Jenrick for transforming himself from a laid-back, talented moderate into a born-again man on a mission to tackle the migration crisis.

“Leaner, hungrier, and fueled by his experiences as Immigration Minister, he has emerged as an eloquent, and sometimes even eloquent, advocate of the need for draconian immigration controls,” Sir Geoffrey said. “Like Cassandra, his urgent warnings cannot be ignored.”

Voting for the Tory leadership will end on Thursday evening, before votes are counted on Friday and the winner is announced on Saturday.

It is expected to be staged at the Queen Elizabeth Center in Westminster, with both contenders taking to the stage after the result is announced by Sir Bob Blackmanchairman of the 1922 backbench committee that oversaw the competition.

Common sense Kemi is the Tories’ best choice

By Sir Geoffrey Cox

As many Conservatives have done, I have struggled with the choices presented to us regarding the leadership of the Conservative Party. It’s not easy. Both candidates have their advantages. Standing aside and looking at the ruined scene of the fate of the Conservative Party, the long and difficult road to return to government, strewn with traps for the unwary, makes us worry about its future.

Meanwhile, populist sharks, patrolling the frozen seas in ever smaller circles, wait for the smell of blood in the water. Not since Shackleton’s famous voyage from Elephant Island to South Georgia in the James Caird lifeboat to help the stranded crew had a politically epic and improbable voyage been attempted.

So who is to lead us? Where is our Shackleton? Who will lead us across the glaciers and the roiling waves of the Atlantic to the shelter of the penguins on this island whose reconquest from Argentine military occupation so famously inspired Margaret Thatcher’s joy? Who will rise to the challenge that history poses to us at this moment?