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Kemi Badenoch pulled off a major political coup when she secured a meeting with the vice president-elect JD Vance on her trip to Washington DC.
In a friendly get-together, the couple shared a picture of Mr Vance with his arm around Ms Badenoch and praising the new one Conservative leader at X (formerly Twitter).
He said: “It’s great to see a leader UK ConservativesKemi Badenoch during her trip to the USA. We talked about many topics, but I failed to convince her that coffee is much better than tea. Cheers, Kemi!”
Ms Badenoch retweeted Mr Vance’s post, but Canadian MP Jamil Jivani, who joined them at the meeting, posted: “Thank you VP-elect and Cam Badenoch for a great conversation in DC.”
The meeting is believed to have lasted an hour. The pair discussed themes from Ms Badenoch’s speech at the International Democratic Union conference earlier in the trip, particularly her thesis on the rise of the bureaucratic state and the size of government and why they hinder risk-taking and economic growth.
This is the second time the two have met after meeting last year when he was a senator and she was business secretary. They are thought to have struck up a good relationship and have exchanged messages regularly over the past year. The messages included him asking him about the Tory leadership contest and Ms Badenoch asking about the US election.
Ms. Badenoch has other senior Republican allies, including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who has backed her leadership campaign.
The Tory leader, who was elected only last month, also met Republican House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson on his trip this week.
A Badenoch ally said: “JD sees Kemi as one of those on the global right who is thinking deeply about how to reform the state. He and Kemi are from a new generation of centre-right politicians – like Pierre Poilievre, whom she met in Toronto on Friday; and Ron DeSantis, who backed her leadership campaign — who are using strong conservative principles to woo younger voters. The dinner renewed their friendship, and Kemi and JD will continue to stay in touch as the Trump administration gets up and running.”
The ties are crucial as the Tories bounce back from their worst election defeat in their 365-year history by returning just 121 MPs in July.
With President-elect Donald Trump seen as close to Nigel Farage, there are concerns that he and allies such as Elon Musk could lend their political support to UK reform in its attempt to replace the Conservatives on the right of British politics.
Mr Trump was not available to meet Ms Badenoch as he was in Paris for the reopening of Notre Dame in his first major international engagement since winning the presidential election last month.
But Mr Vance’s meeting with Ms Badenoch has angered some on “Team Trump” who believe he should waste no time with the Conservatives and instead fully back Mr Farage.
One Trump team source said The Independent: “Trump has no interest in meeting with her [Ms Badenoch].”
Speaking at Mr Vance’s meeting, the source added: “JD is an inquisitive person by nature and will therefore meet with most people who ask nicely enough. It should not be seen as an endorsement of Badenoch or the British Conservative Party, the latter of which is usually the subject of a joke when it comes up in conversation.”
However, another source suggested that some in Trump’s team take a very different view, claiming that “Farage is not that close to Trump”.
A DC source described Farage as “an eccentric British fan they indulge in, but he hasn’t been much use and thinks he just wants to bask in the reflected glory.”
The source suggested that in reality, “Trump likes Boris [Johnson] and royalty.”
However, a Trump supporter who attended his election party at Mar-a-Lago pointed out that Farage was also there as a guest, adding: “There wasn’t a Tory in sight.”
“Nigel talks to Trump on a mobile phone, no one else has that closeness.”