The only time I have met Kemi Badenoch was in a television studio a few months ago when she shamed me into a stumbling apology. We were part of a panel discussing her plan to bar transgender people from entering female-only spaces. And the then equalities minister had, for once, gone out of her way to emphasise the need for a reasoned debate on this bitterly contested issue. So how, I asked, could she then justify a Conservative advert that day claiming Keir Starmer didn’t know “what a woman is”?

Badenoch replied with words that would chill the blood of anyone with vaguely progressive instincts. “Please don’t point at me like that, I find it unnecessarily aggressive,” she said. “Err … sorry,” I muttered, “there are some strong feelings on this.” Fair enough. Middle-aged white men like me really should have learned by now to keep their fingers under control.

My purpose in recalling this slightly painful experience now is because there has been some excited chatter that the “forthright” new Tory leader will cause similar discomfort for Starmer.

Even though the prime minister has never really been the finger-jabbing type, his new opponent is not averse to using her gender and ethnicity to invalidate other opinions in a fashion more often associated with the “woke” identity politics she usually professes to despise. Earlier this year, when the actor David Tennant said he wanted her to “shut up” on transgender issues, Badenoch responded........

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