Cameron wins 1922 Committee ‘coup’

David Cameron has won what one Tory backbencher called his “North Korean”-style coup on the 1922 Committee.

It’s a bit like management demanding seats on the trade union negotiating team and then saying there will be a company-wide ballot to give it the go-ahead when management have one third of the votes and five of them at one point last night were sitting in the polling booth.

The ballot paper itself offered what the pollsters call a loaded question: would you like everyone to attend party meetings or for the status quo to carry on? Are you nice or cranky?

The result in full: 118 no and 168 yes, meaning 19 Conservative MPs were unable to take part in the last-minute vote. Cameron won support of 55 per cent of his parliamentary party – a proportion not without significance in the current debate, and not a ringing endorsement.