Why was wokery on the lips of so many ministers at Tory spring conference?

Ministers draw a link between Ukraine, war, statues and personal pronouns, writes Andrew Woodcock

Brexit minister Jacob Rees-Mogg was among several senior Tories to make a disparaging reference to ‘woke’ culture (PA)

One of the more peculiar features of this weekend’s Conservative spring conference was the connection which so many present appear to have drawn between Ukraine’s valiant struggle against Russian invaders and their own – somewhat less heroic – stand against the forces of “wokery”.

In speech after speech, ministers mentioned with relish their belief that the seriousness of events in eastern Europe would mean an end to squabbles about personal pronouns, statues and gender-specific language.

In the face of the threat from Vladmir Putin, said Jacob Rees-Mogg, nobody would any longer care about banning MI6 spies from using macho words like “grip” in their reports, as a recent memo reportedly did.