Shortly before David Cameron stood up in the House of Commons to give his crucial statement to MPs on the Europe deal, one loyal former Cabinet minister sent a text message to the Prime Minister’s mobile phone. “Firm but gentle with colleagues,” it read. The Tory leader replied that he understood and would try to follow the advice. Within weeks, though, he was sneering at Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Conservative Eurosceptic MP, accusing him of spreading a “scare story” about the European Union, his furious manner a stark contrast to the calm courtesy of the pin-striped backbencher. It was just one sign of the increasingly poisonous mood within the Conservative Party ahead of the EU referendum on 23rd June.
As the campaign enters its final phase, Cabinet ministers are competing to contradict each other on television and radio. Political friendships are fracturing, discipline is breaking down, civility evaporating. The toxic issue of Europe is yet again spreading its venom through the Tory ranks. Although Britain is voting about whether to stay in the EU or leave, the future of the Conservative Party is also at stake, with some MPs privately questioning whether it can survive this shock to unity. “It’s pretty bad,” says one grandee. “What’s been shown is that feelings run very deep and when it’s over it will be very difficult. The Tory Party is tottering.”