This morning's Daily Telegraph reports that David Cameron faces a backlash from parliamentary supporters of Iain Duncan Smith if "two ex-party officials accused of triggering the [former leader's] downfall" are readopted as Tory candidates.
The Telegraph "understands that an internal party inquiry has now found "no evidence" of wrongdoing against Vanessa Gearson and Mark MacGregor".
Editor's personal comment: "It is at this point I should declare an interest. I worked for Iain Duncan Smith at the time of the 'Betsygate' allegations as his Political Secretary.
I am fully aware of the behaviour of the two individuals and of their unsuitability to be Tory candidates. Whether or not it was right for the parliamentary Conservative Party to no-confidence IDS it could never be right for him to be attacked by making unfounded allegations about Mrs Duncan Smith's parliamentary work for her husband.
The behaviour of Vanessa Gearson and Mark MacGregor during that period was completely at odds with the high standards that should be expected from people who aspire to be Tory MPs. Just as the A-list became public knowledge it is also likely that details of the two individuals' own behaviour will become public knowledge.
The Betsygate inquiry cost the party hundreds of thousands of pounds and I witnessed the completely unnecessary pain caused to Mrs Duncan Smith during that time. The whole inquiry was completely avoidable if basic internal procedures had been followed.
The candidates' committee that must now assess the suitability of the two individuals will be working on a very different basis to that of the internal party inquiry. The internal inquiry had to prove wrongdoing. The candidates' committee has to make an assessment of suitability and competence. ConservativeHome expects that the compromise will be this finding of 'unproven' together with barring them from the candidates' list."
AS WITH ALL POSTS ON THE GOLDLIST - BECAUSE WE ARE DEALING WITH THE REPUTATIONS OF INDIVIDUALS - COMMENTS WILL ONLY BE PUBLISHED AFTER THEY HAVE BEEN CHECKED BY THE EDITOR OR DEPUTY EDITOR.