LATIKA BOURKE: UK right-wing conference One Nation’s Pauline Hanson will address opened to a nearly empty room

On Saturday morning, Pauline Hanson is set to swap lounging poolside with Gina Rinehart at the Sicilian Grand Hotel San Pietro for another waterfront destination — London’s Intercontinental hotel at the O2 overlooking the Thames at North Greenwich.

She may wish she stayed behind in Italy if the first day of the conference is anything to go by.

CPAC-GB is a UK offshoot of the American juggernaut Conservative Political Action Conference, which brings together the movers and shakers on the right-wing of politics.

Australia has an established CPAC offshoot but Britain one appears to be gasping to make its first breath.

It may be due to the local architect.

Liz Truss, whose prime ministerial reign was outlasted by a lettuce wilting on a livestream, brought the conference to London to “fight against the left-wing establishment.”

She is a polarising, if not derided figure in the UK, having wrested the Tory leadership from Boris Johnson, only to go on and announce a budget so radical it tanked the market and doubled the cost of a mortgage.

Current Tory Leader Kemi Badenoch, who is vying to become the UK’s fourth woman prime minister, wants nothing to do with her predecessor, reportedly saying it would be helpful if she shut up for a while.

Ms Truss will not be muted, but her ability, or inability to command a crowd, shows her subdued rallying effect.

She opened CPAC-GB to an almost-deserted room, with rows and rows of empty seats, despite bold claims about platforming future world leaders.

“Maybe you’re gonna see a future Australian Prime Minister, maybe a future British Prime Minister, maybe a future President of the United States of America,” Ms Truss promised.

Granted, the headline speakers, Reform UK Leader Nigel Farage and One Nation Leader Pauline Hanson, were not billed for opening day. Mr Farage will speak on Friday and Senator Hanson is scheduled to appear on Saturday.

But unless they can command a personal draw, they will find themselves speaking to a nearly empty room.

The Aurora ballroom at the Intercontinental at the O2 has played plenty a host to major events before and been packed to standing capacity.

In 2023, the venue hosted the Ukraine Recovery Conference, which was attended by world leaders and Australian business figures, including the billionaire and Fortescue owner Andrew Forrest.

Then, the room was so packed, media were shepherded into a separate room, and anyone that managed to cram into the room had to find a few square centimetres to stand in. Mobile phone data was throttled so that a simple WhatsApp or SMS could not be sent.

But CPAC-GB suffered none of these problems. With about 500 seats set, it was hard to see more than 200 full at any one time. If this was the beating heart of the future of the right, it was not so much on life support as in search of a pulse.

“What we’re going to be talking about at CPAC are the issues the media ignore that the public wants dealt with,” Ms Truss promised.

That was an arguable claim. While some speakers did discuss issues that Britons list as their priorities, most dwelt on fringe culture issues, such as the right to pray outside abortion clinics and Muslim cabals supposedly rigging elections.

The failed Reform UK candidate Matt Goodwin told the conference that Islamists and Greens rigged the byelection he lost.

“We watched the Islamo-Green Party use Muslim-clan networks to rig and win that byelection,” Mr Goodwin said.

“If we don’t win this political battle, this will soon be an entire political system.”

Attendees can pay between £100 and £10,000 to attend the event. The higher-end tickets include premium seating, but given that the front rows were empty, it is not immediately clear why this benefit would be worth paying so much for.

Sponsors, who presumably get VIP treatment, including access to a ‘VIP Lounge’, include the Bitcoin Collective, which will only invite more scrutiny on Mr Farage’s unexplained and undeclared £5 million donation from an offshore crypto billionaire.

But ultimately, speaking to a nearly-empty room may suit Pauline Hanson, who loathes media scrutiny and instead prefers podcast interviews with the far-right activist and criminal Tommy Robinson.

But with her polling falling at home, she may want to reconsider if it is her brand or CPAC’s that benefits from her attendance and if her time might be better spent hobnobbing with Tommy Robinson and his far-right fringe dwellers or back in the Sicilian sunshine with Ms Rinehart.