It was a full 90 minutes into the Reform UK rally – and 10 minutes into Nigel Farage’s speech – when the surprise guest who was also not a surprise at all came bounding on to the stage: ah, Suella Braverman, we were expecting you.
If ever there was a definition of a high-profile yet semi-detached Conservative, Braverman was it. Although twice the home secretary, and also attorney general, she has been on the backbenches for more than three years and had precisely zero chance of advancement under Kemi Badenoch.
