Holly Valance represents the archetypal frustrated Tory
As poster girls for the Right go, few would think of a former Neighbours star who released a single called Kiss Kiss and once appeared in a National Lampoon comedy alongside American socialite Paris Hilton.
The Conservatives have had some unlikely cheerleaders in the past: Craig David, Carol Vorderman and the Go Compare Man, to name but a few. But in pledging her support for Popular Conservatism, a Right-wing Tory splinter group, Holly Valance appears to have broken the blue rinse mould.
The former soap actress, who played Felicity “Flick” Scully in the long-running Australian drama, went viral on Tuesday after telling GB News: “Everyone starts off as a Leftie” before realising the ideas are “crap”.
Calling for Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg to become prime minister, the mother of two, 40, who is married to property tycoon Nick Candy, described Liz Truss as “actually really, really interesting to listen to” before declaring her love for “northerner” Lee Anderson, the former deputy party chairman, whom she described as “straight to the point and very sensible and for real people”.
Naturally, the comments have riled the Left, with some expressing mock surprise that the “foreign” wife of a billionaire should be supporting the so-called party of the rich. (We welcome all immigrants, except the ones who marry someone loaded and are photographed with Donald Trump).
Yet, while her comments may not be as sophisticated as some of Margaret Thatcher’s statements on socialism, she appears to have struck a chord.
A play on “if you’re not a liberal when you’re 25, you have no heart; if you’re not a conservative by the time you’re 35, you have no brain”, falsely attributed to Sir Winston Churchill, the pop star turned “Pop Con” is now being touted as a formidable electoral asset for the Tories. Everybody needs good neighbours, after all.
But perhaps the more pertinent question for the beleaguered blues is why this MTV Music Video Award winner in 2003 has seemingly done a better job in one sentence of communicating the essence of Conservatism than Rishi Sunak since he became Prime Minister.
To quote Valance in full, she said: “I would say that everyone starts off as a Leftie and then wakes up at some point after you start either making money, working, trying to run a business, trying to buy a home, and then realises what crap ideas they all are and then you go to the Right.”
She added: “I’m a citizen like everyone else here who’s concerned about the way things are going in the country. Many things worry and bother me with two little children to bring up – what they might inherit. So I want to come and listen to ideas, good ideas.”
In expressing concern “about the way things are going”, and seeking “good ideas” from a fringe movement rather than the actual government, Valance represents the archetypal frustrated Tory.
They believe, as Thatcher did, that the “facts of life are Conservative” – and can’t quite believe that an administration elected with an 80-seat majority appears to have lost that argument to Labour.
Her comments came after Ms Truss had suggested that “Britain is full of secret Conservatives – people who agree with us but don’t want to admit it” – a fair point, but one which misses the fact that we appear to have a cabinet full of such secretive Conservatives that it’s become hard to tell whether some of them are actually Tories or not.
The former prime minister used her speech to claim that “Left-wing extremists” are now running large parts of Britain – seemingly overlooking the fact that it has happened on the Conservatives’ watch.
Similarly, Mr Anderson griped that politicians were “out of touch with the public” on net zero, apparently forgetting that he was one of the most vociferous backers of Boris replace-your-boiler-with-a-heat-pump Johnson.
So yes, the Tories need more Conservatives like Valance who aren’t shy of expressing a Right-wing opinion.
But in the spirit of neighbourliness, it should be pointed out that sort of straight-talking Conservativism really ought to start at home.
