  Hot Jupiters are giant planets on orbits a few hundredths of an AU. They do
not share their system with low-mass close-in planets, despite these latter
being exceedingly common. Two migration channels for hot Jupiters have been
proposed: through a protoplanetary gas disc or by tidal circularisation of
highly-eccentric planets. We show that highly-eccentric giant planets that will
become hot Jupiters clear out any low-mass inner planets in the system,
explaining the observed lack of such companions to hot Jupiters. A less common
outcome of the interaction is that the giant planet is ejected by the inner
planets. Furthermore, the interaction can implant giant planets on
moderately-high eccentricities at semimajor axes $<1$ AU, a region otherwise
hard to populate. Our work supports the hypothesis that most hot Jupiters
reached their current orbits following a phase of high eccentricity, possibly
excited by other planetary or stellar companions.
