How MPs deploy the dark arts in the hunt for a magical route to the front of the Tory leadership race

No politician has yet admitted to changing their vote for tactical reasons, but with such powers at their disposal, who’d blame them?

Working in the Palace of Westminster can often feel like being an extra in a Harry Potter film, but parliament is never more like Hogwarts than during a Tory leadership contest, when the mysterious “dark arts” of political skullduggery work their most potent magic.

On the face of it, choosing a new leader for a political party should be a straightforward affair. You hold a vote and the most popular candidate wins.

But these are people who pride themselves on being “the most sophisticated electorate on earth”, and nothing is ever quite so simple with them.