Last night the greatest politician of this or any other generation tweeted:

Positive & constructive meeting with centre-right group of Conservative MPs tonight. Measured debate around the 2014 referendum amendment.

— Adam Afriyie (@AdamAfriyie) October 16, 2013

However people in the room say this meeting was far from constructive. Guido is told that Bill Cash, Bernard Jenkins, John Hayes and Edward Leigh stuck it to Afriyie in no uncertain terms with the word “muppet” being thrown around about his EU referendum amendment. Euro-sceptic right-wing Tory MPs tell Guido that there is a growing consensus on the Tory benches that Afriyie has now blown his career so badly that he should stand down in 2015. “He won’t though, he still thinks he is a man of destiny”, says one.