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Murmurings of disquiet morphed into an argument, as party members with the leadership campaigns of Richard Starke and Byron Nelson declared they would contest all results from the evening’s vote unless the hospitality suite was shut down.

As Kenney’s team member shook his head, arguing they had done nothing wrong, O’Neill intervened, asking them to “cool it” as they registered an official complaint with the returning officer.

O’Neill said later she was “very disappointed” that Kenney had flouted rules that were “very clear.”

Out in the parking lot, Kenney shrugged that he didn’t realize he was in the wrong.

In the end, Kenney’s team were ecstatic as the results of the vote were read out just after 9 p.m., with all 15 delegates, and the five alternates, aligned with his campaign.

Before Kenney turned up just after 7 p.m., O’Neill said she wasn’t sure what would happen at the delegate selection meeting that evening; “It’s politics,” she said, so there’s always a chance of fireworks.

The downtrodden PCs are trying to rebuild after being kicked to the curb in the last election, losing a healthy majority to become the third-place party.

At the Progressive Conservative AGM in May, members voted that the next leadership campaign wouldn’t use the one-member, one-vote system, returning instead to delegates.

The last time the PCs used a delegate system to pick a leader, Wham! and Madonna ruled the music charts, Back to the Future hit the big screen and Rick Hansen had just begun his 40,000 kilometre Man in Motion tour.