If James Cracknell can handle 50 days alone at sea with Ben Fogle, Westminster will be a breeze

Life is pleasingly fluid now, writes Tom Peck. For a while, it was thought that the pivot from politics to reality TV wazzock only went one way, but no – the double Olympic gold medallist proves you can pivot right the way back again...

Olympic medallist James Cracknell will be the Tory candidate in Colchester (PA)

Double Olympic gold medallist and, as of now, Conservative Party parliamentary candidate James Cracknell is a man who seems happiest when pushing back the boundaries of his own ambition.

I imagine it is this ruthless competitive streak that caused him to return to university and win the boat race for Cambridge at the age of 46.

It may also have been behind his having to acknowledge his “anger management” issues while denying that he had a “tantrum” backstage after being scored a “two” by Craig Revel Horwood on his way to becoming the first contestant to be eliminated from Strictly Come Dancing in 2019.