Guido hears that there will be a summit this Thursday at Chequers, where the Tories will decide how to handle the expected Jeremy Corbyn victory. The two competing strategies being considered are broadly thus: Cameron and Osborne should go easy on Jez and treat him with the respect due to the Leader of Her Majesty’s Opposition – all the time playing on the public’s economic and national security fears. Or go hard and attack him as a left-wing lunatic better suited to running a student union. Some think that if they destabilise the new Labour leader too much early on it will only help moderates ditch him for a more electable opponent. Be in no doubt that George Osborne would rather face Jeremy Corbyn in 2020. If Corbyn is slaughtered by Cameron at his first PMQs, potentially just 10 days away, the mutineers would have immediate ammunition…

The EU referendum will almost certainly come up at Chequers. Cameron and Osborne are becoming more sympathetic to making a quick dash to the polls next spring, while the Tories are still at a post-election high and before their opponents can properly get their act together – or for that matter any Cabinet Minister braves coming out for the “Out” side. Osborne is table thumping, with a hint of menace, that no one serious can want “Out” of the EU. This of course still leaves the problem of the ever enigmatic Boris…