Hilton now finds himself in with a real shot at entering the final runoff, despite never previously having held elected office on either side of the pond — and a political past which appears at odds with his embrace of MAGA Republicanism.
He’s unlikely to prevail in November, given the Golden State’s Democratic ties and deep animosity towards Donald Trump — who has personally endorsed the British-American challenger. But advancing to the November election would, at a minimum, give Hilton a platform. And if there is one thing he is known for back in the U.K., it’s disrupting the status quo.
He is a character who rarely wears a collared shirt, never a tie, and doesn’t own a smartphone, instead relying on a flip-phone for texts and calls only — and was immortalized as the unbearably pretentious spin doctor Stewart Pearson in “The Thick of It,” purveyor of such pearls of wisdom as: “I like the plasmic nature of your data modeling.”
Among his compatriots from the Cameron years, he’s widely viewed as an upstart with a talent for gaining attention, though many of those who came into contact with him in Westminster claim that his campaigning zeal is not matched by an ability to govern and often implodes on impact with reality.
Yet Michael Gove, a former senior Cabinet minister who worked with Hilton for many years, insisted that his old ally should not be underestimated. “I’m absolutely convinced that it wouldn’t be where he is if he weren’t deadly serious about bringing change,” he told POLITICO. Hilton did not respond to a request for comment.
Hoodies and huskies
Hilton is almost universally credited for turning around Cameron’s image from a typical Tory toff, who was not even the favorite for party leader, into a much more modern, even relatable, kind of politician who won back power for the Conservatives after 13 years in the wilderness.