Guido’s Calgie appeared alongside Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP on Sunday night, taking the opportunity to follow up his story from earlier in the week that the 1922 treasurer believes Gavin Williamson should be sacked. After having nothing to add last week, Sir Geoffrey defended himself, arguing “I think it is probably time for somebody else to take over the reins of education”. When Calgie asked whether the Tory grandee felt many of his colleagues shared the view, he boldly claimed:

“I think many of my colleagues probably wouldn’t voice it quite as stridently and quite as publicly as I do, but I suspect privatly there will be quite a number that have the same views as I do”

The bell tolls for thee, Gavin…

While reshuffle day may be a way off, Tory MPs have plenty of views about who deserves the chop. One of the party’s top grandees Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP has been caught calling for Gavin Williamson to go, in WhatsApp messages leaked to Guido. A message sent to his local area’s group chat sees Clifton-Brown ranting about universities’ Covid policies, complaining the department keeps dodging responsibility for the issue. He signs the message off: “A further reason why Gavin Williamson needs to be replaced?”

Sir Geoffrey, 1922 Committee treasurer, is certainly in line with the Tory membership, who recently gave Gavin a -44% rating according in the latest ConservativeHome membership panel poll. When asked about the comments, Clifton-Brown told Guido he had nothing to add, other than it was a private WhatsApp conversation that “should not have been leaked”. Many fellow Tory MPs will be presuming it’s merely a case of when, not if, Sir Geoffrey’s wishes are granted…

Unfortunate scenes in the main Tory WhatsApp chat last night, as finger-on-the-pulse MP Geoffrey Clifton-Brown announced to the group “Let’s hope Sir Tom recovers well“… sadly, one hour and thirty two minutes after his family announced his death. It took an intervention from Pauline Latham to convey to Clifton-Brown the sad news.

We may have just hit peak silly season, ladies and gets…

It went mostly unnoticed, however the UK’s surface-level political consensus was shattered this morning – not by Labour, the SNP or Farage; by one of Boris’s own MPs. Cotswold MP Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown has bravely come out to defend the right of second home-owners to escape the Coronavirus-filled smog of London and run to their Cotswold homes. For too long, they’ve been voiceless…

Speaking to Radio Gloucester, Geoffrey argued “if people own or rent a house long-term in the Cotswolds, they’ve got as much right to be here as anybody else”

Sir Geoffrey’s contradicting of Public Health Advice shouldn’t won’t have come as much of a surprise to Tory whips. He has a track record of trying to encourage people into areas they aren’t allowed…