He “knows how to wind people up like Trump”, according to friends, and made his name in the UK with zany policy ideas including making the country sunnier using state-owned cloud busters. Now the controversial strategist Steve Hilton, named the “pint-sized Rasputin” of Conservative politics, has become an unlikely frontrunner in the primary race for California governor. His rhetorical flair remains familiar – credited with coming up with the “hug a hoodie” campaign for David Cameron’s government, Hilton is now claiming that a vote for him will make California “Califordable”. Hilton gained prominence in the 2000s and 2010s for his role in modernising the Conservative party, going on to be Cameron’s director of strategy. He was also known in Westminster for his unorthodox working style. Hilton would reportedly pad the halls of Downing Street in socks, ordering civil servants to enact his latest hare-brained scheme, a quirk parodied in the BBC political satire The Thick Of It.…