Looks like the Speccie post-Boris has gone downhill already. It has a story about a ‘coalition’ meeting held at the Adam Smith Institute on Tuesday 6 December. (The ‘coalition’ is an informal coffee morning for right-wing wonks hosted at the ASI.) This particular meeting was sparsely attended despite the mince pies – and most of those there had backed Davis. So the Speccie’s most likely source for a story about the Cameron project is suspect.

Nicholas Boles is alleged by the Speccie blogger (Dominic Cummings) to have told the ‘coalition’ “in no uncertain terms: if the Cameron project works out, then you face another decade plus of political irrelevance, no money, and no influence”. Something that does not sound very likely or authentically Boles. The Speccie blog goes on to recommend Cameron lies to the right-wing, who will it predicts, face a bleak future. Boles has complained about the article to the Speccie – he says “I said nothing of the kind. In fact, I favour a low tax economy, Policy Exchange, of which I’m the Director, has just brought out a new publication arguing for more school choice and I’m an outspoken supporter of the decision to withdraw from the EPP.”