Tories and Reform battle to be heirs to Thatcher’s legacy on her centenary

Gala dinner to remember Conservatives' most successful leader puts spotlight on who will carry forward her ideas

It is a glittering annual dinner in honour of the Conservative party's most successful leader and, on the 100th anniversary of Margaret Thatcher's birth, one that is bigger than ever.

Yet as Tory grandees, celebrity backers and wealthy donors prepare to sit down at a gala dinner at London's Guildhall on Monday evening, a battle for her legacy is under way between the party she once led and the insurgent threat to its survival, Reform UK.