The war over Joanne Cash — and what it tells us about Cameron’s Conservatives

James Forsyth reviews the week in politics

If a committee of David Cameron’s advisers were to design what they regarded as the perfect Tory candidate, the result would look something like Joanne Cash. She is intelligent, successful, a talented lawyer, educated at a state school and with staunch, considered conservative principles. She was duly earmarked for a must-win Labour-Tory marginal: Westminster North. After she was selected she became even more of a Cameroon poster child as she is expecting a child. She could be used as living, breathing proof of how Mr Cameron has succeeded in modernising the party.

But the best-laid plans of Cameron HQ can go awry — and, in the case of Ms Cash, spectacularly so. Instead of being lauded, she has been undermined. Her status as a candidate with the backing of the leadership has solicited hostility, rather than loyalty, from the Tory grassroots. The infighting has been so unpleasant that she resigned as a candidate on Monday night — but then announced (via Twitter) that she was staying after all.