Former Chancellor Phillip Hammond is clearly worried about being re-selected as the Conservative candidate for the next election, resorting to organising a quiet meeting of his constituency executive behind closed doors next Monday, with the hope of being nodded through as the local candidate. In 2017, despite the time pressure of a snap election, he was re-selected in a ‘Special General Meeting of Association members’, answering ordinary members’ questions.

A well-placed local source tells Guido that Hammond whilst he would be “almost certain” to lose a vote should it go to the full Runnymede and Weybridge association membership following his recent antics, he is more likely to win in a quiet meeting of the handful of executive members. Wouldn’t be the first time he has sought to subvert democracy…