Kris Hopkins slams Douglas Carswell and the rebels’ tactics at tense meeting of the 1922

It was a stormy meeting of the 1922 Committee tonight. The cause of controversy was last week’s defeat of the government on the EU Budget and whether or not the rebels — led by Douglas Carswell and Mark Reckless — had cooperated with Labour.

Kris Hopkins, of the loyalist 301 group, read out Carswell’s letter to colleagues saying that he had had no direct contact with the rebels. He then said that seeing as the Mail on Sunday reported this weekend that Carswell had, everyone present should write to the paper and complain about its inaccurate report. The irony was, I’m told, rather effective.

But this was not the end of the matter. Anne Main complained that those who had rebelled or abstained were being sent the equivalent of white feathers. I understand that this is a reference to the fact that they are being sent articles critical of the rebels and their tactics, including one by the former Tory MP Paul Goodman of Conservative Home, with simply an unsigned House of Commons compliments slip attached.