Dougie Smith: a mysterious backroom Tory fixer feared by MPs

The man who reportedly once organised sex parties for the wealthy is alleged to be involved in a plot to replace Rishi Sunak

“Advisers advise, ministers decide,” goes Margaret Thatcher’s aphorism. But if Nadine Dorries is right, one Conservative adviser has the power to elevate and overthrow prime ministers and has been exercising it for two decades.

Some might accuse Dorries of hyperbole. But even to more reserved figures in the Conservative party, the Tory fixer Dougie Smith is a mysterious and unnerving character.