WITH Autumn conference passes flying through the post, Conservatives have begun booking their hotel accommodation in Manchester. All but Belsize councillor Jonny Bucknell that is. You’ll find him in the car park at the old Boddington’s brewery come the end of September. To save money on expensive hotels, his strategy is to park up, sleep in the car – he has curtains for the back windows, apparently – and then heads to a local leisure centre for a shower in the morning before getting stuck into the fringe meetings. It no longer draws puzzled looks from his colleagues, but when they check their bank accounts at the end of the week, he says he’s the one that’s laughing.

“It’s a matter of principle – I’m not spending £100 a night on a hotel when it is comfortable enough in the car,” he says.

UPDATED: The Telegraph has followed up on this post already. You can see it HERE.