Have some sympathy for those careerists, known contemptuosly by all the leadership camps as the “creeps”. They swarmed like lemmings to David Davis seeking future preferment. Most you don’t know, and won’t ever know since they are now up shit-creek with little talent and less chance of their man having any powers of patronage.

Some better known and not entirely talentless creeps include Damian Green and David Willets. As faces not from the right-wing they are pushed forward in the media now that the hapless Andrew Mitchell has been put in charge of making the tea. (As Basher’s former media handler he distinguished himself at a Tory conference party by asking the editor of The Times who he was and coming close to breaking down on Andrew Neil’s Daily Politics show after that Davis speech.)

Willet’s repeats a mantra that Davis can unite the party, true, the party is increasingly united in the belief that Basher is a charisma-free loser. Willet’s can think of nothing else to say with conviction. Spare a tear also for Damian Green, who tore up his TRG membership card to back Basher. A dripping wet faction fighter in the past, he switched to Basher from Ken Clarke only to see Cameron come through. You’d have to have a heart of stone not to laugh.

According to the clearly inaccurate Who Support’s David? section of Basher’s website, 66 Tory MPs were committed to him. The second-raters will now need to switch their pledges to Cameron sharpish if they want a career…