Guido hears the Tory leadership candidates meeting at CCHQ earlier this week got rather heated. Candidates sent in their Rottweiler representatives to whinge about process – in particular, Tom Tugendhat’s lot. Apparently Tom’s team went in all guns blazing, lobbying for a higher spending limit on the campaigns. Seems unlikely to be for any good reason…

The current cap is £400,000 (already £100,000 higher than the last contest) plus a £200,000 ‘entry fee’ for the final two. The suggestion went down like a lead balloon per sources in the room. Otherwise, a dull August of Tory leadership manoeuvring continues…