Behind the scenes at Conservative conference, a strange set of events left the politics team puzzled

Announcements are never made by two people at once – it’s bad politics, and bad journalism. So what was going on?

As I write, the adoring acolytes of Boris Johnson are clearing the gangways of the ICC in Birmingham, where the Conservatives are holding their annual conference.

Johnson speeches usually create a stir, but this one had the potential to shake the party as well, with 200 usually rowdy souls in the press room falling silent as TVs around the place showed him taking to the stage.

As ever he aimed to provoke, but such is his power among Conservatives these days that the leader’s office had begun to react to the Uxbridge MP’s appearance a full 24 hours before it even happened.