In just over half an hour, MPs will flock to the Chamber to watch the report stage and third reading of the Wharton Bill. I explained yesterday that there will be a chunk of Tories who find themselves forced to support Adam Afriyie’s call for an early referendum because it is a UKIP ‘red line’, but there is little good feeling about it. One MP, who was going to back the amendment for those reasons, told me this morning that he’d decided to abstain because the amendment does not help the eurosceptic cause at all.
Before #LetBritainDecide reaches fever pitch in the Commons, though, it’s worth considering how that eurosceptic cause has changed recently. Received wisdom is that the Tory party is split on Europe, with various warring factions who all ascribe to a different strand of Euroscepticism.
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