Those in the audience for today’s Liz Truss launch of the Popular Conservatism movement would have been very familiar with almost all of those who spoke at the event.
Well-known policy guru Mark Littlewood headed up the event, as the PopCon’s director, followed by Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, Lee Anderson and finally Liz Truss.
However, buried among the famous speakers was one total unknown – indeed someone who isn’t even an MP yet.
Mhairi Fraser, a Tory candidate for a relatively safe Home Counties seat, used the platform to voice opposition to a number of nanny state Government policies. Express.co.uk now takes a look into who is this rising right-wing star.
What is her role?
Mhairi Fraser was selected as the Conservative candidate for the Surrey constituency of Epsom and Ewell last month, surprising everyone given her “underdog” status.
The seat has been represented by former Secretary of State Chris Grayling since 2001. His current 18,000 majority means Ms Fraser should be bracing for an easy ride into Parliament later this year, however current polls and a strong LibDem presence in the so-called ‘Blue Wall’ means the seat might end up becoming marginal.
Former anti-Brexit campaigner Gina Miller has already said she’ll stand in the constituency for her True and Fair Party.
What did she say?
Speaking in her key role at the event, Mhairi Fraser rallied against “nanny state” policies being driven by Rishi Sunak, not least the impending smoking ban.
She warned that time is “running out to deliver freedom” and blasted Mr Sunak’s pet health project. She warned the ban will “create a ludicrous two-tier system where in years to come a 50-year-old man will be able to legally buy a packet of cigarettes, but his 49-year-old wife will not”.
She added: “It’s certainly not found in continued plans to ban multi-buy deals on sugary foods, meaning a grown adult can commit that cardinal sin of buying two packets of biscuits but cannot benefit from the lowest prices”.
Ms Fraser argued that nanny state policies are ineffective, as well as immoral. She received one of the loudest rounds of applause of the whole event, when railing against Covid lockdowns and blasted them as the “greatest attack on personal liberties under peacetime conditions that this country has ever seen in return for very limited public health benefit”.
What else does she believe?
The softly-spoken ideologue previously described Donald Trump as “incredibly refreshing”, even travelling to the US to see him win the Presidency in 2016.
She added she had “never been as excited” about a politician.
Ms Fraser also said she did “not see Russia as a natural enemy”, and is more concerned about Islamic terrorism.
She defended Mr Trump’s various offensive comments during the 2016 campaign, arguing: “I don’t think he’s a sexist and I don’t think he’s a racist”.
What is her background?
Mhairi Fraser has been an Associate Solicitor for five years, with White & Case LLP.
According to her profile on the company’s website, she works in the White Collar team, advising companies and individuals on regulatory and criminal enforcement.
During her time in the job she has also been involved in a number of pro bono matters, including strategising a legal and political defence for a Nobel Peace Prize winner.
Prior to this she has a long history with the Conservative Party, as a strategy director for the party’s Young Women group, four years as a researcher in the House of Commons, and a canvasser for the Scottish Conservatives.
She previously stood in the 2015 General Election for the Tories in the Scottish Coatbridge, Chryston & Bellshill seat, however achieved just 6.3 percent of the vote amid the SNP landslide and Labour wipeout.
