It may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but what about a Priti Patel T-shirt? Or maybe a Kemi Badenoch water bottle? Or a Robert Jenrick mug? The Tories may have hit rock bottom with voters, but the battling to become the next party leader clearly think they still have plenty to sell to the faithful. With the Conservative hierarchy agonising about how to prevent the contest to succeed Rishi Sunak turning into an embarrassing bunfight at their conference in Birmingham next month, candidates are being kept well apart wherever possible – and will even be given their own individual stalls in the exhibition hall, where they will be encouraged to promote their ideas to delegates and offer their own branded merchandise to anyone who will buy it. “Everyone will have their own merch: hats, caps, T-shirts, tote bags, that kind of stuff,” said one source involved in the campaign.
“People really care about it, they get very competitive about it. Everyone is getting the merch ready. It is appearing at hustings already.
I think Mel Stride is even giving out cakes and cookies. Priti has T-shirts, caps, tote bags.” Kemi Badenoch, who came out top in a YouGov poll of members on Friday, has set the pace in the merchandise stakes too, having put a range of items on her leadership website, , though without her name or image.
Her campaign sweatshirts can be snapped up for £35, water bottles for £15 and an upscale notebook for £8.50. “I think we damn well should get our own stands,�.