14:47

I’ve just been to see Esther McVey formally launch a new group called Blue Collar Conservatism, an internal party campaign intended to push for policies attracting working voters in former industrial areas, which is also viewed as a vehicle for McVey’s own leadership ambitions.

The ex-work and pension secretary, who left government at the end of last year in protest at Theresa May’s Brexit plans, is seen as an outsider, but as with many of these efforts the aim is as much to push the individual MP’s policy aims and stature in the party.

Speaking in a packed room in parliament – she had made the wise move of both booking a fairly small space and removing all the chairs – McVey said the Conservatives must take votes from those who felt abandoned by Labour, in part by delivering Brexit quickly.

If that sounds a bit like the Brexit party, there were definite similarities, not least a video featuring uplifting music, the views of annoyed voters and a claim that Labour has abandoned working class people. In a brief Q&A afterwards, McVey declined to say whether she would ever work with Nigel Farage’s party.

The main policy specific was to pare back overseas aid funding to 2010 levels and to spend what Mcvey said would be the left over £7bn a year on schools and the police.

There were some hiccups more reminiscent of Change UK than the Brexit party – the first video took some lengthy laptop key-pressing to start, while McVey mis-read her script and referred to having to “clear up the mess that was left by the Conservatives” but the event saw a fair turnout of fellow Tory MPs.

McVey also made it clear that she would only back a die-hard Brexiter to replace May, Asked whether someone like Jeremy Hunt or Sajid Javid would suffice, she said it had to be someone who “believes in Brexit with a passion”.