Under the union jack bunting of chilly street parties or next to the children’s bouncy castles at the village jubilee fetes, Conservative MPs have been quietly taking the mood of their constituents before returning for a week of bloodletting in Westminster.
“I‘m getting people coming up to me and greeting me with that smile and the tilt of the head that’s usually reserved when your labrador puppy has just been run over,” one senior MP said. “It is deeply uncomfortable.”
