Gala dinner to remember Conservatives’ most successful leader puts spotlight on who will carry forward her ideas
It is a glittering annual dinner in honour of the Conservative party’s most successful leader and, on the 100th anniversary of Margaret Thatcher’s birth, one that is bigger than ever.
Yet as Tory grandees, celebrity backers and wealthy donors prepare to sit down at a gala dinner at London’s Guildhall on Monday evening, a battle for her legacy is under way between the party she once led and the insurgent threat to its survival, Reform UK.
Boris Johnson will make a keynote speech at the event, the Guardian has been told by its backers, joined by the main speaker, Thatcher’s son, Mark, and guests including Joan Collins, Julian Fellowes and Jeffrey Archer.
But a notable absentee will be Kemi Badenoch, as the current Tory leader struggles to stave off the threat of extinction looming over the party Thatcher led to three consecutive election wins.
