While it’s already been reported that Rishi Sunak has decided to give Tory Conference a miss this year – apparently to “give Truss all the space she needs to own the moment”  – it looks like he’s not the only one who’s skipping the journey to Birmingham on Saturday: David Davis, Sajid Javid, and Mel Stride have also confirmed they’re sitting it out. It seems they agree with Labour, the LibDems, the SNP and Plaid that there are more important things going on than justifying a three-day bender in the West Midlands…

Guido also hears many of Rishi’s parliamentary backers are avoiding the event, although not as an organised faction. One supporter tells Guido that while the mood is “very very bad”, they haven’t decided to gang up and boycott it together – instead, they’ve all just independently decided it’s not worth it. Another said the combination of “arrogant” Liz backers, free-flowing booze and the constant presence of the Lobby provides very little incentive to battle train strikes and go to Birmingham. Apparently some whips are now concerned whether any Rishi supporters will bother going at all…