As Lady Prue’s King Charles spaniels, Tatty and Teasel, played at his feet, Mr Jenrick discovered that Lady Prue could not vote for him, even if she wanted to.

Dame Prue, 84, explained that she had been a member of the Conservative Party for a year so she could vote for Boris Johnson as leader, but is not currently a member.

“I’ve only voted Conservative twice in my life,” she said. “Once it was for Boris, it was a mistake. And once Tony Blair came to power, and that did the Conservatives no good.” In 2024, she didn’t vote at all.

She added: “I haven’t been very impressed with Starmer so far, but it’s only the beginning. I think we should give this guy a chance. And I think the Labor Party has some good ideas. Honestly, I think we need someone to improve the game.”

Is this person Robert Jenrick? Does she think he would make a good Conservative leader and Prime Minister?

“I think he’s definitely the best I’ve seen,” she said. “That doesn’t mean he’s going to be a good leader, because, let’s face it, we’ve looked at a lot of people recently, and if I met you for the first time and we didn’t have this Conservative Disaster story, I would say, well, it’s okay. You know, he knows what he’s doing, he’s pretty young, so that’s where I’m at.

Mr Jenrick, who was due to speak to Conservative members in Banbury after the interview, chose the venue for the interview partly because of his personal links to Dame Prue’s family, but also because it is the location ideal for talking about the great British countryside.

Dame Prue built her breathtaking home near Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire, during lockdown with her second husband John Playfair. From its first floor balcony there are wonderful views across the Cotswolds, including the couple’s flock of sheep grazing in one of their nearby fields.

While Dame Prue describes herself as an “amateur farmer” whose small organic farm would never be economically viable on its own, she is passionate about rural affairs, land use and the plight of farmers, including her close neighbor Jeremy Clarkson, whose Diddly Squat Farm café. she serves her guests.

The muddy roads surrounding the farm are populated with farmers in battered old Land Rovers with sheep and dogs in the back. In local pubs, punters sit in beer gardens and smoke cigarettes, and at weekends you might come across the Heythrop Hunt on a drag chase. These are all things Labor wants to ban.

“If I were in your place,” Dame Prue told Mr Jenrick, “I would be really keen to improve the current SFI (Sustainable Farming Incentive) scheme, which is really good in principle.

“We all know we need to be greener, but I think at the moment it’s kind of impossible.

“My farm would never make money, but because I have another job, I can afford to indulge my desire to go organic. If you’re a real farmer and you need to make money on your farm to go organic, which sounds wonderful…it takes two and a half years to go organic.