‘Most comedians are Thatcherite entrepreneurs’: Leo Kearse, 42, from Penpont in southwest Scotland, was Scottish comedian of the year in 2017

The Edinburgh Comedy Awards usually predict the next wave of British comedy. Recent wins by female stand-ups at the awards finally quashed the “are women as funny as men?” debate. But this year there is a new question on the Fringe: can Tories actually be funny?

After decades of a leftie comedy consensus dominating the spiritual home of stand-up, suddenly there are enough right-wing comedians at the festival to form, well, a five-a-side team.

Simon Evans, Geoff Norcott, Dominic Frisby, Leo Kearse and Andrew Lawrence (mainly) back Brexit, defy identity politics and even have some good words to say about President Donald Trump.

“The Fringe is full of comedians slamming Donald Trump for being a bad businessman,” says Kearse in his show Right Wing Comedian.