I saw an article in the Torygraph abut the new Conservative candidate for Eastleigh. Again, not a stunning advert for the modernised Tory party. the candidate, Maria Hutchings, is an unreconstructed social arch-conservative.

She is anti-immigration (“I don’t care about refugees) – though she claims that remark was out of context and one could so interpret it given that she was wanting to talk about something else instead.

She is a devout Catholic and has the backward views about gay marriage and abortion rights (she’s against both) that normally but not invariably go with such a person. Another one who like Jacob Rees-Mogg “takes [her] whip from the Vatican”. Yes, Jacob, you could have phrased that better.

It is impossible to imagine a less progressive person, a person of more toxic views. And this was someone parachuted in by Central Office. I despair of the Tory party and I sincerely hope this nasty piece of work loses.