A state reception dinner for British right-wingers descended into a bust-up between Boris Johnson and other senior Tories over the party’s record in government.
In an astonishing turn of events, a witness described “real anger” as the meeting of minds led to a spat between Liz Truss, Mr Johnson and his former boss, broadcaster Andrew Neil.
The event, at the luxury Peninsula hotel in London’s Mayfair, was hosted by US broadcaster Newsmax and included guests of honour Marco Rubio and US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent. Both are in the UK for Donald Trump’s state visit.
Nigel Farage and Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg were also there representing the right of British politics.
After canapes, Mr Farage and the US cabinet members left, before the rest of the guests, who also included Sir Sajid Javid and Mark Harper, were treated to dinner.
Mr Johnson then gave a speech defending his record on Brexit, and it was at this point that a witness said “tensions were evident over the last government’s record”. Right-wing critics have rounded on Mr Johnson for overseeing mass migration into Britain as PM, with Reform UK dubbing it the “Boris wave” of migration.
The witness told The Telegraph that tensions came to a head when former transport secretary Lord Harper raised the need for welfare reform and immigration control, before being rebuked by broadcaster Mr Neil about why the Tories had not done so in power.
The witness added: “At that point, Boris robustly defended his government’s record. Boris argued that Brexit gives us powers to reduce immigration if we wish, and said he did reduce it. He also said we shouldn’t bash the contribution migrants make to Britain.
“There was a robust exchange of views, and everyone defended themselves well, but real anger is obvious. The Reform attendees were of the view that this is why the Conservatives don’t function well as a party any more.”
Sir Jacob reportedly attempted to make peace between Tory critics supporting Reform and those defending the Conservatives’ record, apparently believing the two parties should work together.
Mr Neil has long been critical of the former PM after his stint as Mr Johnson’s boss at The Spectator magazine.
A series of scandals erupted at the weekly publication under Mr Johnson’s editorship, including several affairs leading to it being dubbed the “Sextator”.
More recently, Mr Neil delivered a scathing verdict on Mr Johnson’s trustworthiness after he failed to submit to a BBC grilling before the 2019 general election and was the only major party leader not to do so.
In a damning monologue, he said: “The theme running through our questions is trust.
“And why, so many times in his career in politics and journalism, critics and sometimes even those close to him have deemed him to be untrustworthy. It is of course relevant to what he is promising us all now.”
The latest row between the pair came after a week in which Mr Farage welcomed a fresh handful of defectors to Reform UK, with high-profile former Tories Maria Caulfield and Danny Kruger joining the party.
Mr Kruger became the first sitting MP to defect to the party, while Ms Caulfield became the 13th former Tory MP to join Mr Farage’s ranks.
As he left, Mr Kruger urged other Tory MPs to join him in Mr Farage’s party, saying: “I would hope that colleagues who share my view about the crisis the country is in [recognise] the opportunity that Reform offers to save our country.”
Ms Caulfield, meanwhile, told GB News: “If you are Conservative right-minded, then the future is Reform.”
