[v23.3.x] Always use the latest configuration for followers metadata

[vbotbuildovich]

Backport #19964 to branch v23.3.x. Note that this issue was created as a placeholder, since the original PR's commit(s) could not be automatically cherry-picked.
Here are the commands to execute:

git checkout v23.3.x
git checkout -b vbotbuildovich/backport-19964-v23.3.x-315
git cherry-pick -x 2f287e296ac64465d119e36df261eb1976c4a130 c69709f4ab6a9ce049946610b43b818b3bcbe3e5 571aa19d3182c64275deb584d1d9be3c01d09210 e73aa28ad7fe07293752a7cffaad5b0d67056857

git push origin vbotbuildovich/backport-19964-v23.3.x-315
gh pr create \
  --title "[v23.3.x] Always use the latest configuration for followers metadata" \
  --base "v23.3.x" \
  --label "kind/backport" \
  --head "vbotbuildovich/backport-19964-v23.3.x-315" \
  --draft \
  --repo "redpanda-data/redpanda" \
  --milestone "v23.3.x-next" \
  --body "Backport of PR https://github.com/redpanda-data/redpanda/pull/19964 "

JIRA Link: [CORE-4441](https://redpandadata.atlassian.net/browse/CORE-4441)