Expect today’s eurosceptic celebrations to be muted

The real Tory celebration of David Cameron’s veto will be on Wednesday. Then, behind closed doors, Cameron will address the 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers. With no Lib Dems present, the Tories will be able to thump the desks and be rude about the EU without worrying about what their coalition partners might think.

But in the chamber today, Tory MPs are being urged to be calm and forensic. The whips keep pointing out to ambitious MPs that a question on what Labour’s position is would be most helpful.

Eurosceptics, though, should be in good cheer today even if Cameron’s statement is more downbeat than they would like. The veto has now become one of the things that defines Cameron in the public mind, it is integral to ‘the Cameron brand’ and one of the things we know is that the Tory leadership will always do whatever it takes to protect ‘the Cameron brand’.