Tory MP of 23 years Julian Lewis has lost the whip for defying Number 10 in in successfully launching a bid to chair the powerful Security Committee in the Commons. The job had been expected to go to Chris Grayling with no contest, yet Lewis sewed up the Labour and SNP votes on the committee to mount an unexpected win. Number 10 will have a hard time if they want to claim this is about Brexit – Lewis is a member of the ERG and was a Brexit ‘Spartan’ on all three meaningful votes…

A senior Government source has said the highly unusual and ruthless move is “because he worked with Labour and other opposition MPs for his own advantage”. A clear warning shot to the rest of the Parliamentary Party, which is now down from 365 to 364 MPs…

Unafraid to go against the grain, Lewis was considered to be an ally of Bercow during his time as Speaker, having attempted to defend the controversial speaker against bullying accusations. He is one of the only MPs who still refuses to use email – his office can only be contacted by letter writing and phone calls…