Whipping up a storm | 24 October 2011

It looks like about a third of Tory backbenchers will rebel in tonight’s vote on an EU referendum. 18 months into government, this is a massive rebellion and one that should make the Prime Minister think again about his style of party management. Those in Number 10 who claim that many of the rebels will ‘never be happy’ are missing the point that, while there may be a hardcore of MPs keen to rebel, many more are reluctant rebels who feel they have been pushed into it by Cameron’s failure to engage with the party on the whole issue of Europe.

One reluctant rebel said to me over the weekend: if you write anything about this please say that the whips office needs sorting out. He complained that his whip had only spoken to him once in the last 12 months, had no idea what interested him and just assumed he would vote for the government regardless of what his constituents or conscience told him.