In these dramatic times at Westminster, there are dim forces at work. None dimmer than Andrew Bridgen, the Tory MP for North West Leicestershire. You won’t have heard of him, but he is the backbench brains of the operation that has been telling journalists for weeks that the 48th letter to trigger a vote of no confidence in the prime minister is in, or about to go in, or will be once he has finished writing it.

These people want to run the country, and they can’t run a stationery cupboard. My concern is that he thought he could write all 48 himself. Have you seen the price of stamps?

Only last week he claimed that Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 Committee, could