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Kemi Badenoch landed a major political coup when she secured a meeting with vice president elect J. D. Vance on her trip to Washington DC.
The convivial meeting saw the pair share a picture of Mr Vance with his arm around Ms Badenoch and praising the new Conservative leader on X (formerly Twitter).
He said: “Great to see the leader of the UK Conservatives, Kemi Badenoch during her trip to the US. We discussed many topics, but I was unable to persuade her that coffee is much better than tea. Cheers, Kemi!”
Ms Badenoch only retweeted Mr Vance’s post but Canadian MP Jamil Jivani who joined them in the meeting posted: “Thanks to the VP-elect and Kemi Badenoch for a great conversation in DC.”
The meeting is understood to have lasted for an hour.
The Tory leader, who was only elected last month, also met House Republican speaker Mike Johnson on her trip.
The connections are crucial as the Tories fight back from their worst-ever election defeat in their 365-year history returning a mere 121 MPs in July.
With President-elect Donald Trump very close to Nigel Farage there are concerns that he and his allies such as Elon Musk could lend their political support to Reform UK in its bid to replace the Conservatives on the right of British politics.
Mr Trump was not available to meet Ms Badenoch because he was in Paris for the reopening of Notre Dame on 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 not waste his time with the Conservatives and instead fully back Mr Farage.
One source told The Independent: “Trump has zero interest in meeting her [Ms Badenoch].”
Addressing, Mr Vance’s meeting, the source added: “J. D. is a curious person by nature and will therefore take meetings with most people who ask nicely enough. It shouldn’t be viewed as an endorsement of Badenoch nor the UK Conservative Party, the latter of which is usually the butt of the joke when it comes up in conversation.”
