Adam Afriyie has certainly chosen an odd time to sow discord in Tory ranks over Europe. The party is so happy that it appeared oddly sedated at its conference last week. Even normally grumpy MPs are chuffed with the way Lynton Crosby and Grant Shapps are sharpening the Conservative message. And the PM has, in his own way, been trying his best to make backbenchers feel loved.
But Afriyie has also chosen an odd way of causing trouble in the party, possibly so odd that his amendment won’t have the desired effect. Not a single hardcore eurosceptic that I’ve spoken to this morning heard from the rebel MP before he announced his amendment in the Mail on Sunday. One says to me:
‘He hasn’t consulted eurosceptics and his strategy is peculiar and counterproductive. It’s career hara-kiri for him.’
That MP said they were unlikely to support the amendment.
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