Thread by @lewis_goodall

Now time for my favourite form of journalism. Sitting in a hot stuffy corridor pretending I can hear things from the inside of a room where the next prime minister is being decided but where journalists aren’t allowed, because you know, it’s rightly very much a private thing.

There’s laughing. Michael Gove is very funny, apparently.
#(tinybitof)BritainVotes2019

Now thumping on a table. Either they like what they’re hearing or someone is in desperate need of some assistance.

Michael Gove emerges: “it was a lovely group of people and a pleasant conversation which I thoroughly enjoyed.”

This is gold.

One MP in the room says he spoke about education, as he was adopted. Growing up in Aberdeen. Spoke about environmental agenda, mentioned that thatcher was first world leader to talk about climate change and that is a completely Conservative issue.

Says he was asked about no deal. Gove replied the aim should be to leave in October but shouldn’t be wedded to that date, could be moveable by a short time. MP admits he was “vague” about it.

Matt Hancock is making them laugh now. Because everything IS JUST SO FUNNY.

So it seems Hancock said that the Tory Party had to get its act together because if it doesn’t for the first time since WW2 there will be “an anti-Semite” at the head of a western govt.

An MP in the room said Hancock said the party wasn’t electing a leader just for the next six months “but for the next six years.”

And that the Tories need to “turn a page” on Brexit and talk about other things.

On both counts, seems a touch optimistic.

This idea of turning the page is one of the truisms of intra-Conservative debate at the moment but also one of the most far fetched. One half of the Tory party might not have got into politics to talk about Brexit but the other half did and they will never, ever let it go.

It also presupposes all those liberal Cameron 2015 voters will just, you know, forget the last four years, just because the Tories start mentioning schools and hospitals a bit more.

Besides, the way of “turning the page” for virtually all the candidates who say no deal isn’t their preference is to reform the backstop/WA which will never happen. At the very least you need a plan as to how to get there and no one has produced one. They’re running on fumes.

So Dominic Raab had a novel approach. Apparently he said he wasn’t ruling anything out or in because if he did so “I’d be boxing myself in.”

That includes proroguing parliament.

But then ruled out an extension to Article 50 “because we’d have no credibility left.”

So our credibility but no just in time supply chains. Seems a fair trade off.

Also can I just repeat how incredible it is that this idea of proroguing parliament is gaining traction. To restore parliament’s sovereignty the Conservative party is suggesting the suspension of parliamentary democracy.

It would be an extraordinarily dangerous precedent.

The fact potential prime ministers are refusing to rule it out, floated as a means of circumventing parliament’s will adverts to the fact that British democracy is deeply troubled.

We shouldn’t forget why prorogation would take place. The Tories don’t have a maj for what (some of them) want to do. So (some of them) want to suspend the legislature to get what they want. If that were a developing state, we’d have no compunction about calling that what it is.

It just isn’t how a proper democracy behaves.

Am told tonight Gove and Hancock ruled out prorugation. Hunt effectively did so too (said it wouldn’t work). Raab wouldn’t. By all accounts it didn’t go down well in the room.

Seems though conservatism isn’t completely dead in the Conservative party. When I ask her what she thought of the suggestion @AmberRuddHR says it’s “outrageous. We are not the Stuart kings.”

Am also told that Raab “doubled down” on his saying that he’s not a feminist: “went down like a bucket of cold sick” said one MP. @AmberRuddHR and @NickyMorgan01 were more diplomatic: “we listened quietly and respectfully” (glints in both their eyes)

Should also point what a horrendous position the Queen would be in with prorugation. She would have to do it (on the PM's advice). Am sure Buckingham Palace would do all they could to prevent Downing St asking. Just what Britain needs, the monarchy being dragged into Brexit.

Generally concensus seems to be they all performed better than candidates last night. Much more engagemnt with the detail. Took this as particular grab at Johnson, from whom they said there was very little.