Has Tyrie been silenced for good?

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk

Yesterday the Tory media machine went into overdrive in a desperate attempt to stop Osborne critic Andrew Tyrie from attacking the chancellor in a BBC interview. The footage of of Steve Hilton dragging Tyrie away for a quiet chat was the comedic highlight of an anotherwise dull day in Manchester.

However it looks like the attempt by Downing Street and CCHQ to silence Tyrie didn’t end there. The excellent FT Westminster blog notes that Tyrie didn’t attend a fringe event on growth that he was due to attend this afternoon. His replacement was Matt Hancock, former Osborne adviser and most loyal loyalist amongst the 2010 intake.

A coincidence? Perhaps. But let’s see how scathing Tyrie is in his criticism of Osborne’s (lack of) growth strategy in future…we’ll be keeping an eye on him.