Why did some of the UK’s worst political rejects like Johnson and Truss spend the week parading about the RNC?

Napoleon had the island of Saint Helena, Leon Trotsky had various spots across Turkey, Norway and Mexico. These days political exiles from the UK all appear to end up in a far more desolate place: The Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Among the crowds of US political bigwigs, state delegates and zealous supporters of Donald Trump, several familiar British faces have appeared – usually with the prefix of “former” before their job title – to rub shoulders with the GOP elite.

At the 2024 convention, where Trump officially accepted the Republican presidential nomination and selected JD Vance as his running mate, a rollcall of infamous names from across the pond dropped by to pay their respects.

The former UK prime minister and Donald Trump were pictured together at the RNC on Tuesday, with Johnson’s trademark disheveledness standing in stark contrast to Trump’s polished veneers and white ear bandage.

“Great to meet President Trump who is on top form after the shameful attempt on his life,” Johnson wrote on X. “We discussed Ukraine and I have no doubt that he will be strong and decisive in supporting that country and defending democracy.”

The former prime minister has kept a relatively low profile in the UK since his less than graceful departure from Number 10 Downing street in July 2022 following a spate of domestic political scandals.

He and Trump worked together for just over a year, their respective times in office overlapping from July 2019 to November 2020, and shared an ostensibly cordial relationship. The pair shared certain similarities including famously bizarre hair, a penchant for incendiary rhetoric, and a propensity towards the outrageous.

In fact, the former president himself once proudly