When in doubt, have a drink

Most Tory MPs enjoy leadership elections. There may be an element of what the trick-cyclists call ‘displacement activity’. Equally, it is tempting to employ the cliché about rearranging the furniture on the Titanic.

Until 1990, the process was brief. It took only four days to elect John Major, whose team used an underground ‘bunker’ in Alan Duncan’s house as their HQ. By 1997, when the party had been grievously wounded and the election procedure extended, there were lots of gatherings which required more spacious premises – including Jonathan Aitken’s garden.

Now, even more stricken, the Tories will need a number of bunkers and will face the same problem that their predecessors had to cope with in 1997. The public are not interested. That will change, but not in any short order. At present, if most voters knew Clem Attlee’s advice to Harold Laski, they would quote it to the Tories: ‘A period of silence from you would now be welcome.