Cereal choker Adam Afriyie might be insisting “there is nothing to see here”, but the man who would be king wasn’t always so keen on Dave. Last year he opened the Conservative Renewal Conference in Windsor, seen at the time very much as a “rebel Tory party conference”. Afriyie had some interesting things to say in his speech:

“If I were Europe Minister, I’d want to know how to regain control of our borders and secure our criminal justice system. If I were Chancellor, I’d be concerned about removing the age-old obstacles to growth. I’d want to release our risk-takers and wealth creators to generate the jobs and economic growth the country so desperately needs. If I were Party Chairman, I’d be concerned about the support base of my Party. I’d want to ensure that the policies adopted had been endorsed by the Party. And I’d want my Party to be motivated and ready to campaign, wholeheartedly, at the next election. And if I were Prime Minister, I’d want to be in tune with my Party and I’d want the right ideas for the country on Europe, taxation and the economy.“

Invites have gone out for this year’s even more ambitious conference. Organisers insist “this conference is not about attacking the leadership unnecessarily; it is about providing Conservative solutions to the problems this country and the world faces and being a constructive and friendly critic of the leadership”. Of course it is Adam…