In a letter to the Torygraph six former chairmen and presidents of the National Convention – the Tory party’s ruling body – say the proposals to return the decisive vote to MPs are undemocratic and should be rejected.

It will be interesting to see if the wider Tory membership loathes Ken Clarke as much as the journalistic consensus reckons – Guido suspects not. Now he has confessed the error of his ways on the Euro they will be more likely to forgive his apostasy and be willing to have him lead them to the promised land of government.