It’s hard to work out Ken Clarke’s view on the Heathrow expansion (if he has one) given his lack of public pronouncements on the issue. He didn’t return the FT’s calls today.

If the genial Tory is brought back to a key front bench job – as the current rumour mill suggests – the answer to that question suddenly becomes much more important. For now there are only rumblings of discontent among the Conservative ranks about the policy of opposing the third runway. A handful of front benchers are unhappy but they aren’t speaking out in public. Read more