This was a two horse race between the winner and Suella Braverman – 174 votes to 124 votes. Penny Mordaunt came third with 85 votes.
For whatever your view of him, the former star of our Moggcast is a House of Commons man through and through and, therefore, completely at ease operating as a backbencher, offering his view to anyone willing to listen.
It insists that there was no plan to move to by-election rules. “We’re not so stupid as to push a scheme that we know would be opposed by a large number of MPs.”
Killing the Bill at Second Reading would have meant no opportunity for emergency press conferences and Star Chamber findings at Committee and Report.
If Conservative MPs don’t want one, they should vote for the Bill, hoping that it can be strengthened in Committee and Report.
The odds are that the Government will win tomorrow. But it’s not hard to see how it could lose by accident.
This is the first time that the proportion has reached and exceeded two in five respondents.
His Bill may be held up in the Lords as he continues to insists that his Government will stop the boats. The only means of squaring the two would be an election with illegal migration centre-stage.
The Government made a last ditch attempt to stave off the rebellion, but it was not enough to persuade senior Tory backbenchers including former Cabinet ministers Chloe Smith and Damian Green to back down.
This return is poor news for the Prime Minister while not being great news for the former Home Secretary.
Doing the minimum possible on legal migration would have the unwelcome effect for the Prime Minister of prolonging and intensifying debate about it.
The Prime Minister will want to avoid the trap that Gordon Brown created for himself in the autumn of 2007.
Monday’s speech and today’s announcement show them choosing their ground for the next election. And since Hunt may find no money for further tax cuts next spring, the option of a May general election is opening up.