The room was packed, the mood exuberant. On 5 October this year, young Tories queued for an LGBT+ Conservatives Pride reception at the party’s annual conference in Manchester, thanks to its promised star guest. “Trans is brave,” their 23-year-old host, Elena Bunbury, who chairs the group, told the crowd. “Trans is beautiful!” And then she handed over, with a hug, to the Prime Minister’s wife.
Boris Johnson watched from the back of the room as Carrie Johnson, a long-standing ally of the group, declared her husband “completely committed” to extending LGBT rights. She listed party pledges including a ban on conversion therapy (the practice of attempting to “cure” homosexuality), and rolling out HIV-preventative drugs on the NHS. Maybe, she joked, her husband could resurrect the pink cowboy hat he wore on a Pride march while mayor of London. Afterwards, she talked with the evening’s co-host – a beaming Nancy Kelley, chief executive of Stonewall. At the after-party, Michael Gove and Liz Truss were prominent on the dance floor.
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