Holly Valance is the new darling of the Right

You always know you have hit a nerve with the opposition when they attack you personally. A quick glance at the cesspit of anonymous haters on what is now called X shows Holly Valance has demonstrated just how insecure elements of the Left really are. Saying that “everyone starts off as a Leftie and then wakes up at some point” she has infuriated those who appear to have no better argument against her statement than “delete her off Spotify”, “mute Valence” or – perhaps most more alarmingly – the “inexplicable urge to deport Holly Valence”.

The reason for this outpouring of condemnation is that Holly has, from one brief but potent interview at the end of the Pop Con launch this week, invigorated the politically homeless: the Right of centre and common sense voters. For those who bothered to listen to the end of her sentence, it continued that people wake up from the Left delusion when “you start either making money, working, trying to run a business, trying to buy a home”. In other words, when you become a responsible citizen. And as a small state, low tax, personal freedom that comes with personal responsibility advocate, I and millions of people like me agree with her. She has stated something that many think but few in the public eye – and especially not showbiz – are willing to say. In the minds of out and proud and silent conservatives alike, she has hit the nail on the head and elevated herself from beautiful one time soap star and pop singer to the embodiment of Pop Con.

Like Holly, I was at the launch of Popular Conservatism on Tuesday. I was unsure what to expect as I walked into the Emmanuel Centre in Westminster, with its marbled entrance hall and sweeping staircases. I was instantly aware of a buzz, and not just from the whirring paparazzi and press cameras. Not even Steve Bray broadcasting outside could drown out the sense of anticipation. The last thing we need is another Tory faction, was said in hushed tones.

As the speeches began a sense of relief spread across the large, standing room only hall. Pop Con director Mark Littlewood, before saying what the movement was, chose to highlight what it was not. It is not a faction. It is not about MPs. It is not about a change in Prime Minister or Tory leader. It is about grassroots, about democracy, of bringing back power from unelected, unanswerable quangos and institutions to where it belongs, with the people via their chosen elected representatives.

It is about listening to what the people want, and being in a position to enact their wishes as expressed at the ballot box.

To stop foreign courts, international institutions and unelected judges to bind Parliament’s successors. To return power to the only place it should ever have been – with the British people.

The reasons for Brexit were manifold. For some it was immigration – which the ECHR has done its best to prevent the Government from dealing with. For others it was trade, which the EU is trying to stymie in relation to Northern Ireland. For millions, including me, it was about sovereignty. The right to vote for those we believe will plough the best course for our country, and to kick them out and change course if they do not deliver.

And yet, thanks to the diminution of power of our elected representatives over the last 25 years the very people we chose to run our country are frequently hamstrung. And we need our representatives to wake up to why they cannot deliver for the British people.

And that is why Holly Valance has not just become a heroine to those who want to see our nation emboldened and enabled with democracy and common sense but sent the fear of God into the left. She spoke a great truth, that when we “wake up” we all want a free and sovereign society, from which socialists and statists always run scared.

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