Tory whips are doing a ring around of their MPs to find out what they think of the row over Suella Braverman’s Times piece. The Home Secretary accused police of ‘playing favourites’ when it comes to dealing with protests. As I blogged earlier, several have made their views on Braverman’s intervention very well known to the party hierarchy already. One senior MP says to me:

‘I think she will be gone by the end of the week. And they should take the whip off her too. I am leaving this place at the next election and I will be happier knowing that she is not still in the party to win its leadership contest when I’m gone.’

Those who are trying to get clarity on what happened – and whether Downing Street really didn’t sign off the content of the piece – aren’t getting any answers, though. The whips ring-a-round is only finding out what party opinion is to feed back to the Prime Minister, rather than to offer any answers. In the Home Office WhatsApp group, Kit Malthouse has continued to ask questions about this of special advisers and Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPSs), without any answer. There is a sense from colleagues that some of them are waiting for a bit more clarity before they blow their tops.

Within Downing Street, things are rather complicated. Not everyone around Rishi Sunak is happy about the piece. But there are also figures in No.10 who are pushing for him to hold the line and back Braverman. What backing her would look like is a potent question in itself: would it be the PM merely waiting for the row to die down and stonewall when asked about the comments, as he has in the past on other matters? Or would it be him saying she’s right, at least on certain points? Neither is an easy option for Sunak. But then neither would sacking her be at all straightforward.