Dining across the divide: ‘At one point she said, “I don’t want to offend you, but you seem quite privileged”’

A trainee accountant and a company director had differing views on opportunities for young people, but could they find common ground on the new prime minister?

Margaret, 22, London

Occupation Trainee accountant and part-time arts producer

Voting record Green in the past and is now a Labour member

Amuse bouche In 2024 she was president of the Cambridge Footlights student comedy society

Clare, 64, London

Occupation Director of a healthcare services company and part-time blogger on health and urban planning

Voting record Democrat when she was in the US, Conservative in the UK

Amuse bouche She is very into the River Thames. She rows and swims in it, and regularly spots seals and egrets

For starters

Clare I was really looking forward to it. We clicked on the fact that we both love the idea of dining across the divide.

Margaret I was a bit nervous, as all I knew about her was that she was a “Kemi [Badenoch] fan”. I know Conservatives, but don’t know anyone who would say that about themselves. But I found it really interesting hearing someone voice those opinions, and we agreed on a lot.

Clare I had a watermelon carpaccio, mint and feta salad, then mussels with chips and, for dessert, a peach sorbet with chantilly. It was very nice.

Margaret I’m vegan, so my options were limited. I had a mock sushi dish made from watermelon, and some fries, then a divine blackcurrant sorbet. We shared a bottle of orange wine.

The big beef

Clare I think Kemi Badenoch is very courageous, focused and honest. Her party’s been decimated and is facing some of the biggest challenges they’ve ever had. It’s brave of her to take the role and stick to her convictions.

Margaret I think Kemi Badenoch is a contrarian. When she said the UK should support the US and Israel in the conflict in Iran, I felt it was “let’s just go to the other side of what the government is saying”.

Clare She seemed genuinely excited about Andy Burnham coming into leadership. Believe it or not, I feel positive about that, too. I’m not a basher; I’m always an optimist.

Margaret I think she was more excited about Burnham than I was, which surprised me. It’s great to have someone who’s making the left and centrists so excited, but I’m always cautious when I feel myself getting excited about a political figure. I was a teenager in very left-leaning Liverpool when Jeremy Corbyn was the leader of the Labour party and it was almost a cultish fever. But I don’t know if he would have been a good leader, on reflection.

Sharing plate

Clare Being involved with the Conservative party, I never really felt any discrimination as a woman. But you look at data and see that women earn less than men, so clearly women face discrimination.

Margaret I would have thought that someone who had Clare’s level of success, and especially someone with her political stance, might think women have an easier time, but we talked about how so many of the core features of our society were built by men, for men. Women are getting into those spaces now, and some might see that as positive discrimination – but that’s not such a bad thing.

For afters

Clare The situation young people are in, particularly with housing, is awful. She lives in a warehouse with a couple of people. She says it’s a lovely warehouse and a great setup, but I campaign actively for more housing.

Margaret For me it’s less about housing and more about opportunities for young people. At one point she said, “I don’t want to offend you, but you do seem to be quite privileged.” I wasn’t offended, but I do disagree. Being from Liverpool and ambitious, I had to work very, very hard to get down to London as it’s where all the opportunities seem to be.

Takeaways

Clare it’s getting harder to meet someone with a different view – especially if you’re 22 and you’ve grown up online. So my takeaway is that everybody should do this. There is common ground in everything.

Margaret Clare came from the US as a Democrat and then aligned with the Conservatives, and there can be an ingrained dismissiveness of someone like that. But I really enjoyed speaking to her. There are so many different kinds of people in the world, and most are wonderful and well-meaning when you actually get down to it.

Additional reporting: Kitty Drake

• Clare and Margaret ate at The Bull and Last, London NW5

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