Never mind the general election: Tories are already fighting the Europe referendum

It is quite normal in British politics for a political party to turn on itself after an election defeat — but the Tories now seem to be preparing themselves for civil war in the unlikely event of victory. Already, the tribes are forming and snarling at each other. As ever, Europe is the casus belli. Ahead of the 2017 in/out EU referendum, the Tories will probably split into not two but three groups: the in crowd, the out crowd and the reform crowd.

The fighting has already started. Take the struggle to lead the ‘out’ faction. It is at present being won by Owen Paterson, who in the last three days has been prowling television studios like a general who has just staged a successful military coup. The other contenders include the two men who opposed David Cameron for the party’s leadership — Liam Fox and David Davis — as well as ministers such as Chris Grayling, who must stay silent while in office.