Guido hears the rejoiners over at the European Movement campaign are eating themselves over who should take the reins from Andrew Adonis, who stepped down as the group’s chair in December to “devote more time to writing and other public interest initiatives“. A polite way of saying “this is going nowhere”.

The campaign to succeed him is apparently now in complete disarray, with frontrunner Mike Galsworthy privately claiming in a group chat he’ll “take the grassroots away with [him]” if he doesn’t win, and members “at each other’s throats” over the whole thing. Some are “terrified” he will “sink the movement” in a repeat of the 2019 collapse, which saw the rejoin alliance crumble after Open Britain chair Roland Rudd attempted to oust People’s Vote Directors James McGrory and Tom Baldwin, a move Galsworthy backed. Get the popcorn…

The fight for the chairmanship has pitted two sides of the group in a month-long standoff: those who at least pretend they’re willing to exist outside the EU for the short-term versus the remainiacs who wanted to rejoin yesterday. Patience Wheatcroft, a former Tory now crossbench peer and Tom Brake, Director of Unlock Democracy and former LibDem MP, are battling it out to stop Galsworthy taking the crown. Voting closes this time next week…