Inside the shadow Tory leadership election

The board is set, the pieces are moving. So says Gandalf in the The Return of the King, the final instalment of the The Lord of the Rings trilogy, ahead of a battle towards which the entire narrative has been gradually building. The battle for the leadership of the Conservative Party will begin officially in five days’ time, once Labour’s victory has been confirmed and Rishi Sunak has gone to Buckingham Palace to offer his resignation to the King. But …