The mere fact that a Tory leadership hustings is taking place in Northern Ireland at all is enough to raise eyebrows among Conservative party members elsewhere, looking across the Irish Sea at a local party believed to number just a few hundred.
But few are likely to begrudge a moment in the sun for the Northern Irish Conservatives, who have long faced an uphill struggle. A Stormont candidate in 2017 got just 27 first preference votes, languishing last behind a Christian activist who wanted to criminalise adultery.
