The Chequers Plan has been dead for some time, but Johnson has now read the funeral rites over it.
The mood of this conference has been supportive but apprehensive. And now we are finally seeing the outlines of Johnson’s negotiating plan.
The eerie atmosphere at this conference is the calm in a party which wants to come back together.
“It feeds into the narrative that anyone who doesn’t agree with No 10’s position is unpatriotic or an enemy or want the country to surrender.”
Steve Brine and Greg Clark, who have also been deprived of the whip, voted with the Government – which lost by 289 votes to 306.
Seven voted for Grieve’s motion, six voted against, and the remaining eight did not vote.
Mark Spencer has reportedly rung round to inform them that they have lost the Whip.
The former Justice Secretary is opposed to the suspension of Parliament, saying MPs should be sitting for more days not fewer.
Don’t be so distracted by the actors – and all the talk of deselection and elections – as to miss the drama’s bigger picture.
The new Leader of the House on how he was “gulled” by Theresa May over Brexit, and why it’s “a little bit premature” to talk about resigning if the October deadline isn’t met.
In a nice piece of constitutional give-and-take, a more loyal minister-class makes for a potentially more troublesome set of Tory Select Committee chairmen.
One could sense Labour MPs, and some Tory ones too, grasping that “everything is changing”.
We can now see the new Government taking shape, after a dramatic bout of sackings and new appointments at the top.
Gauke, Hammond, Burt and other rebels have little intellectual case for their actions; their moral or political rationale is threadbare.