Twitter’s most learned troll, the insufferably pompous Jolyon Maugham QC, has quietly deleted his widely-ridiculed plan for a new centrist political party from his website. Maugham jumped the shark back in April, posting his vision for ‘Spring The Party’ on his personal blog. Everyone in SW1 just laughed – not least because the plan read like satire:

“Step One: Jolyon announces to The Maidenhead Advertiser that he’s standing. It filters out to the National Press. The website goes up, with a short biog, a teaser, a ‘register’ button and a ‘donate’ button.

“Step Two: We announce the festival and some acts.

“Step Three: We begin to release policies. What next There is a lot to do. But. If you build it, they will come.”

Hours later, Maugham backed down, having taken counsel from “friends in the music and creative industries” who apparently said the party couldn’t be launched in the “available time”. Now the plan has disappeared altogether, only accessible via web archive the WaybackMachine:

Exhibit A, your honour, the archived copy of ‘Spring The Party’…