Vociferously anti-No Deal Tory MP Richard Harrington this morning hit out at his own members, saying that “I’m sure most MPs look at some members of their parties and think that I have very little in common with them.” He even encouraged his local members to launch a vote of no confidence in him, answering “I hope so, because I hope it’s totally defeated.”

Of course what Harrington didn’t reveal is that the reason why he can afford to be so smug is, as Guido revealed yesterday, he’s set up a parallel local campaign organisation under his personal control and frozen out the local party membership already. Local members have called it a “coup”.

All the Association staff including the Agent resigned en masse and jumped ship to his new personal campaign, seizing the office, records, website, email, social media accounts from the local Association without any clear legal basis for doing so, leaving it unable to function without him. No wonder Harrington’s so comfortable goading his members, he knows that even if they deselect him they’ll be left high and dry with no functioning local organisation whatsoever…