Rumours are doing the rounds that several as yet undeclared Theresa May supporters are considering endorsing Andrea Leadsom in order to keep Michael Gove off the ballot. With less than half of the parliamentary party openly declared, May currently has 87 MPs publicly backing her and many more supporters yet to declare – she is absolutely nailed on to make the final two.

Her allies are allegedly now pushing her right-wing Leave backers over to Leadsom, with the aim that Andrea gets the numbers to beat Gove to the ballot. This would make sense as a calculated piece of election skullduggery – May’s friends know the membership is unlikely to choose Andrea over Theresa, Gove is the high-profile Brexit candidate they want to keep off the ballot. Snakes ‘n ladders…