Howard told the meeting of the parliamentary party yesterday that ultra-moderniser Bercow and Ken Clarke acolyte and Europhile Ian Taylor were examples of how MPs should not behave if the party is to have a civilised discussion about its future.

The LibDems wanted to abolish the Department for Trade and Industry, so New Labour, spinners to the core decided to do the same. Well, er, not exactly, they decided to abolish the name and replace it with the Department for Productivity, Energy and Industry.

A name mocked by the CBI as “old-fashioned corporatism” (the CBI attacking corporatism, that is the kettle calling), the unions weren’t keen on the productivity bit either.

Alan Johnson declaimed all responsibility for the idea in the FT “I don’t know. It certainly wasn’t mine.” So who had the dippy idea of the DPEI? Was it Hewitt? Leaks to the usual places (see the box on the right).

To my gambling friends a warning, despite the cajoling of Lord Parkinson and the Yorkshire Post, Hague is adamant he is not running. So punters might want to get on to Betfair and lay him. He was categorically clear yesterday “I certainly will not be standing for the leadership, however many people ask me to do so”. Hague also hinted that Osborne should not run. The Guardian reckons Hague turned down Howard’s offer of the Shadow Chancellorship.

Letwin has confirmed he is out, “I am not going to contest this time. I think one has to know one’s limits.” Quite.

A new (untested) source tells me that some of the modernisers met up earlier this week to try to agree on a candidate – apparently without succeeding. To Guido the race looks like one of Tim Yeo, Andrew Lansley or Alan Duncan being the real moderniser candidate against David Davis, Doc Fox and Rifkind. Since everyone is claiming a ‘modernising’ agenda the terminology is becoming redundant. Yeo is too left-wing for the right, Lansley is nice enough, but a bit like Major in some ways. Alan Duncan would be an interesting candidate – it would certainly test the modernisers’ thesis to the limit. The bookies choice, David Davis, seems a shoo-in, but the Tory party never selects the favourite.

Its hard to say what some of the candidates are going to offer to differentiate themselves – certainly not popular profiles – maybe the Tories just need a likeable leader (with hair) for a change?

UPDATE: Tebbit to ITV on Rifkind “I don’t think a Scottish lawyer would win an enormous amount of seats in England. We’ve forgotten that we have a majority of votes in England – we’ve polled more votes in England than Labour. Now we have got a problem, but it is not one which I think the Scottish lawyer would be the natural to resolve.”

Maude’s appointment as party chairman signals that Howard wants the modernisation of the Tories to be his legacy. Now everyone’s a moderniser despite whatever they said last week. Doc Fox rather weakly tried to position himself as a moderniser too, a freedom loving libertarian even, “whose instincts are economically conservative and socially liberal in tune with the diversity and aspirations of Britain in the twenty-first century”. He told the Politeia crowd some other platitudes about the reality of modern urban Britain. If it was a leadership speech it was hardly barnstorming.

Some real modernisers have been writing in the anti-Tory press about what they think the Tories need to be doing. John Bercow has been putting himself about telling the Indy and anyone else who will listen what needs to be done (he won’t run, but might be a key lieutenant). Tim Yeo said similar things in the Guardian, Alan Duncan got profiled in the Indy, Malcolm Rifkind in the Observer signaled he wants to go back to watered down socialism. All very well, but do Tories read those papers? Chaps, who elects the next Tory leader?

Guido thinks it amusing, and a sign of shrewder judgement, that only David Davis has thought to write in the Torygraph for the benefit of his potential constituency. Maude and Stephen Dorrel, neither of whom are running, are the only others to do so. Of everything so far, John O’Sullivan talked the most sense in the FT about what is going on.

Nick Sheridan Westlake still fascinates Guido. Information still continues to arrive in to the inbox on the subject of the man, his hairdo and the unlikelihood of him surviving for much longer at Tory HQ.

Can it be true that he still lives with his mum? Nick its time to leave home, you are 30.

UPDATE: Could someone clarify this story about our hero declaring in the Oxford Union bar that he wanted to be known as “Shezza”?

The Guardian Election blog is no more and with it many political bloggers will lose a handy source of traffic. Here at www.order-order.com Guido was getting about 3000 hits a day and post-election Guido is seeing 1000 hits a day. Partly as a result of less interest in events post-election and partly due to reduced frequency of posts. Guido is also suffering post-election fatigue and the continuous sleep deprivation that follows the birth of baby Miss Fawkes. The collaborative effort that was www.ReturningOfficer.com is also in hibernation until the next election.

Guido plans to post daily but not five-times-a-day as before. Those of you who don’t subscribe to the syndicated feed are recommended to do so – it saves checking the blog. Guido uses Bloglines to monitor all the blogs he reads, it saves clicking from site-to-site amongst favourites, only to find them not updated and valuable click time wasted. Click on the little [SUB-BLOGLINES] subscription button in the right-hand column half way down and follow the instructions – it makes life easier.

Apparently Guido won the Guardian’s Political Commentary Blog of the Year Award – for what its worth. My view of the Guardian is that they have been trying to feed vampirically off the buzz and energy of the Blogosphere for whatever edgy cachet it has, to “get down with the blogs”. Despite loathing its public-sector politics, Guido admits it is the most web-savvy serious paper, but whilst many of my fellow bloggers are seduced by the hope of a mention on the Guardian’s website and the traffic it brings, personally I’m not really impressed by the Dead-Tree-Press hacks who attempt to patronise bloggers. Unlike bloggers, journalists may have a sub-editor, but not a proper job. Admittedly bloggers failed during the election to claim any scalps, unlike in the US where they got Dan Rather and helped destroy Kerry. Hopefully Guido will do better in the next parliament…

George Osborne, the 33-year-old heir to a wallpaper fortune, is to face off against Gordon Brown – a chance for him to shine or fall flat on his face. Doc Fox becomes shadow foreign secretary and David Cameron gets education. Rifkind is up against Blunkett as work and pensions spokesman.

Michael Ancram goes to defence, ‘Two-Brains’ Willetts, gets to shadow the new government department of productivity, energy and industry (the most unlikely name for a department of the civil service). Alan Duncan goes to transport.

Francis Maude becomes party chairman – a position that will be handy for the modernisers, given that Francis is the moderniser par excellence. It will be interesting to see if C-Change (the provisional wing of Nicholas Boles’ Policy Exchange think tank) lines up differently to CWF in the leadership battle for the hearts and minds of the grassroots. Maude was involved with the establishment of Policy Exchange which has a Portillista agenda, and was not a million miles away from the wielders of the knives that were stuck in IDS’ back. CWF has a more Thatcherite / libertarian agenda. If ‘policy not personality’ is important, these pressure groups will be important. Guido suspects it will superficially be about policy and message, but really about personality and style.

Howard has adroitly given a number of front-runners a chance to shine. Big money went on the absent Hague today at the bookies – does somebody know something? David Davis is favourite, followed in order by Hague(?), David Cameron, Fox, Rifkind, Lansley, Osborne, Yeo, Letwin (rumoured in the City to be off back to Rothschilds). Teasy May, Ken Clarke, Duncan, Willets, Redwood, Damian Green, Ancram and Boris Johnson make up the rear.

Guido is grateful to an eagle-eyed reader who spotted down the bottom of the reshuffle list our old friend, Lord Drayson. Remember him? The businessmen who gave a £50,000 donation to the Labour party. Then had a business breakfast with the Prime Minister, gave a second donation of £50,000 to the Labour party while the government was weighing up who should be awarded a £32m contract his company Powderject was bidding on. Surprise, Powderject got awarded the contract, making a quick £20m profit on it. What value for money for the taxpayer, what a return on investment!

Loaded now, he gave another £500,000 donation to New Labour, and got made a life peer by Mr Blair six weeks later. He sold his company two years later, trousered £100 million and joins the government today. Hey, that’s politics with integrity…