James McAlpine has had a big year since going viral as the ‘world’s tallest Tory’ at the 2025 Conservative Party Conference.
There have been TV appearances and countless views on social media, launching him from regular life as a 7ft 2in student to bona fide political stardom – and he wouldn’t have it any other way.
Speaking to at this year’s Tory conference, James said: ‘It’s been so much fun, very engaging, and I’ve loved every single moment of it.
‘I never would have imagined it in a thousand years, but I’ve really loved it, every single second.’
He has made a number of appearances on GB News and showed up as a guest on Channel 4’s The Last Leg in November, when he met comedians Katherine Ryan and Harriet Kemsley.
James has also attracted attention at county farming shows around the UK, where he has argued that Labour is hurting rural communities and putting them ‘at the bottom of the list, when they should be at the top’.
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He hit out at comments from nature minister Jenny Riddell-Carpenter at Labour conference, where she warned that a ‘far-right, nostalgic vision of Britain’ could be peddled at the next election, including ‘warm ale’ and ‘a black Labrador by your feet in a pub that doesn’t exist’.
James said: ‘I know many people who live in the countryside who are even Labour who own black Labradors, and trust me, those black Labradors aren’t racist.
‘I used to have a black Labrador. She wasn’t racist at all.’
The 2026 Tory conference is Kemi Badenoch’s second as leader, but her job looks considerably more secure than it did last year.
James is now a big fan, but confesses that wasn’t always the case.
He told : ‘I voted for Robert Jenrick, regrettably so, cause then he went to Reform.
‘But good riddance to him, I don’t like him one bit, I think he’s rude.
‘Kemi’s doing absolutely fantastic, and opinion polls are rising by the week.’
The next general election will be a head-to-head fight between the Tories and Reform UK, he predicted, but he is unlikely to get directly involved as a candidate.
At last year’s conference, James confessed he had long-term ambitions to become a Conservative MP and possibly run as leader in the future.
Now no longer a student, he revealed he is on the job hunt but not looking for a role in the Tories just yet.
He said: ‘It’s still very much on the cards, I can assure you that.
‘In a few years’ time – not the next election, maybe not the one after, but the one after that, I think you could definitely see me as a candidate running, running for an MP position.’
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