The quality and intensity of the leadership debate on Sunday seems to have favored Rishi Sunak, with Liz Truss gaining ground on Penny Mordaunt, while Kemi Badenoch’s advance has  stalled. Despite fervent promotion on social media by Ros Altmann, Tom Tugendaht’s race seems to be run.

Monday 5 am

Compare the Sunday morning scores

Sunday 6 am

Today is likely to see Tom Tugendhat’s statesmanlike campaign come to an end. He had done himself and his beliefs a power of good.

The questions now are who will stand against Sunak to champion tax cuts and whether the conservative membership would prefer cuts or the Sunak approach of jam tomorrow, Mark Flanagan of the IMF told the BBC yesterday that cutting taxes would be a mistake – putting in peril Britain’s capacity to sustain the planet, invest in technology and improve Britain’s long-term performance.

Fortunately (for the planet) all three of the front-runners said last week that they didn’t intend to push back the dates for Britain’s climate change goals.

So it looks like the last time I will have the chance to picture Tom Tugendhat as a candidate. Like Ros Altmann, I like him for his integrity, though unlike her, I do not support some of his positions.