Three horse race to join the 1922 executive

There are just six days left before the Commons rises for recess but there’s still time for one last election. The 1922 Committee, that bastion of Tory backbenchers, is currently holding elections to fill two vacant slots on its executive, with the results announced on Tuesday. Ministers, whips and paid vice chairmen of the party do not participate in voting.

Both slots are for the position of vice chairman, with one being caused by the death of former Welsh Secretary Cheryl Gillan in April and the other triggered by the decision of Sir Charles Walker to step down after 11 years in the post. The elections come less than a fortnight after 1922 chairman Sir Graham Brady narrowly secured his re-election, having been given quite the scare by challenger Heather Wheeler. 

Steerpike understands that the final winning margin of votes was more than 10 but less than 20, with Wheeler’s hugely effective under-the-radar operation poised to pull off an upset until media briefings belatedly alerted Brady’s team to the danger she posed.