Nigel Farage overshadowed Liz Truss and all the Tories present (Image: Getty)
There was one truly "popular conservative" in the crowded room at the Emmanuel Centre in Westminster...and it was not a Tory.
In a venue crammed with MPs, wealthy donors, historians, economists, thinkers, activists and luminaries of the Conservative Party for the launch of the new Popular Conservatism movement one man stood out - Nigel Farage.
It said everything that the very moment that Mark Littlewood, the new Director of Popular Conservatism, called time on the proceedings that a mob gathered around the former UKIP and Brexit Party leader turned GB News host to hear his views on what had just happened.
Former Prime Minister Liz Truss, who had just delivered a thoughtful and rousing speech to launch a movement which essentially is her idea, was meanwhile left looking on from in front of the platform.
Politics is full of egos but there can rarely have been a starker reminder for all the politicians present of who is the main game in town and perhaps a dose of reality over why no leading Tory can apparently kickstart the flagging party again.
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Farage was not even there in an official capacity apart from perhaps in his role as GB News' star presenter. But that did not seem to matter.
In some ways I should have guessed as I travelled into Westminster to attend the event. On my way a text from a friend asked: "Are you going to Farage's event?"
"No, I'm off to Liz Truss's PopCon launch," I replied.
"Yes that one," the friend responded.
The exchange said everything you need to know about the state of British politics and where the minds of voters outside the Westminster bubble are focussed.
Nigel Farage debates Brexit with Remainer on GB News
Nigel Farage arrives to immediate attention (Image: Getty)
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Indeed, when he stepped into the room before the event even started, people gathered around to hear his views while MPs were left to find seats.
It is not as if there was a shortage of big names. Aside from Truss herself, Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg and Lee Anderson were there to give excellent speeches. Dame Priti Patel was in the audience, the historian David Starkey was present, former Brexit minister Lord Frost looked on and many more.
So why was all the attention lavished on Farage? Has his successful stint in the jungle made such a difference. Not a bit of it.
Well first, he appeals to Tories on the right because he is a conservative in his beliefs and values based around low tax, individual liberty, immigration control and patriotism. It is just that he is a small c conservative rather than a capital C Conservative party member.
Added to that is the fact that, as one MP put it, "Farage has been playing footsy with the Tories" since he turned up at the party conference in October and was pictured dancing with Dame Priti.
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Just this morning, Sir Jacob repeated his view that Farage is "essentially a Conservative" and, in between hinting he might run for Refom UK in Clacton, the former UKIP leader has been clearly toying with the idea of rejoining the party of his youth.
The Tories themselves have played the game. Even Rishi Sunak has suggested Farage would be welcome. But the crowd that naturally gathered around Farage was not just about his future plans in politics. It was about the man himself.
One veteran Westminster journalist who was there when the Farage phenomenon began around 2004 had a simple answer.
"He is quite simply the most substantial and important figure in British politics since Margaret Thatcher."
"Even more than Tony Blair?"
"Even more than Blair. Look what he has done to this country."
And that was an observer who has plied his trade on the left rather the right of politics in the media.
It is hard to argue. It was Farage's force of personality that helped will the EU Referendum and Brexit vote into happening. The way he picked up the small boats crisis and turned it into the dominant political issue or the way he took on and beat NatWest last year in the debanking scandal shows what a formidable politician he is.
There is not an issue he turns his mind to that he does not eventually win - and Truss and her allies only need to look to Farage to see how popular conservatism is done.
There is a reason why Farage played a role in Trump's Presidential victory in 2016 and why he will play a big role in the US election this year.
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If the Conservative Party is heading for a wreckage of its own making in this year's election, the truth is that, while unpalatable for liberal Tories on the left, Farage may offer their best hope to a return to relevancy and power if they stop playing footsy and ask him to return.
If you think that is fanciful, at least one leadership hopeful who may take over from Sunak after an election defeat plans to do exactly that.
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