Team Kemi know Jenrick will do their job for them - if they can just keep her quiet

It's been a round-the-clock job. If you're wondering why you haven't seen Kevin Hollinrake, Laura Trott and Chris Philp in the same room recently, it's because they have all been otherwise engaged. Each tasked with a gruelling, daily eight-hour shift to make sure that Kemi Badenoch remains silent.

The plan is for Kemi to do and say as little as possible. Because it's far easier to let Robert Jenrick do all the talking. Honest Bob has done the morning radio programmes, he's done the Laura Kuenssberg show and everything has gone exactly how Team Kemi would have wished. The more Tory members get to see of Honest Bob, the less there is of him to like.

Given enough time, Jenrick could come third in a two-horse race. He doesn't appear to have any deeply held beliefs. Everything is a pose, calculated on what he thinks the Tory membership want to hear.

Most unforgivably of all, Bob isn't even a very good hater. He says the correct unpleasantnesses in the right order but there's a hollowness to them. Even his supporters are half-hearted about him.