'Why hapless Tory MPs have well and truly shot themselves in the foot' – Andy Richardson

It’s odd, therefore, that they managed to get rid of the two candidates who had the best chance of taking on Sir Keir Starmer and his band of football ticket-grabbing, P&O-Ferry-lambasting brethren.

The last election demonstrated unequivocably that elections are won from the centre ground. While Sir Keir cleverly parked his tanks on the Tory lawn, the Tories foolishly tried to take on Nigel Farage (again) and succeeded only in damaging their own prospects of success.

And having run an election to find a replacement for the defeated Rishi Sunak, they’ve shown us that they’ve learned none of the lessons of that brutal defeat. While Robert Jenrick has made himself the pawn of his party’s right-wing, and while Kemi Badenoch’s natural home is the hard right, they’ve given themselves every chance of another electoral defeat.

Rejecting the credible Tom Tugendhat wasn’t a particular surprise. The MP for Tonbridge who was elected in 2015 was likeable and as a centrist would have taken the fight to the Lid Dems and Labour, which is where the next election will be won or lost.