When did Steve Baker become a social justice warrior? 

About ten years ago I thought seriously about becoming a Conservative MP. I jumped through a series of hoops and managed to get myself on the candidates’ list. Had I taken the next step, I might have been selected to fight a marginal seat and, given the party’s success in 2019, could have been elected. But in 2018, when the offence archaeologists did a number on me, I decided to withdraw and spare Central Office the embarrassment of removing me from the list. Probably just as well because if I had won a marginal seat in 2019 I’d now be worrying about how to earn a living after the next election.

I might even have gone woke, which is what a number of Conservative MPs who are worried about losing their seats are doing. At least, that’s the only explanation I can think of for Steve Baker’s bizarre tweet last week, in which he said that one of his new year’s resolutions was to be an ally to the LGBT+ community.