Tory sleaze: How much trouble is Boris Johnson in?

It’s been a dizzying 24 hours for Angela Richardson, who was last night sacked as a junior ministerial aide to Michael Gove, only to get the job back this morning. The reason for this whirlwind? Richardson broke the Tory whip last night by abstaining on the government’s plan to tear up the standards committee regime and put Owen Paterson’s suspension on hold. She said at the time that it was a ‘matter of principle’ for her — but with the U-turn from the government this morning, she found that she was once again on the right side of policy.

Things have worked out OK in the end for Richardson, but less so for her colleagues who obeyed instructions and voted for the change. They now find themselves on the receiving end of public anger about Tory MPs wanting to mark their own homework and humiliated that they voted for — and in some cases publicly defended — something ministers then swiftly ditched.