Row about BCC boss shows how careful Cameron must be with his party

Conservative eurosceptics are trying to hammer Number 10 on the suspension and resignation of British Chambers of Commerce Director General John Longworth over his comments about the EU referendum. David Davis has announced that he is putting in FOI requests to Number 10, Number 11 and the Business Department for details of conversations between ministers, officials or advisers and the BCC.

It is unlikely that these requests will yield very much, but Davis is presumably sending them in order to make a statement about Longworth’s resignation and to keep up the pressure on a story that has been running for a few days now.

The reason Tory MPs are so aerated about whether or not Downing Street did lean on the BCC to punish Longworth for backing Brexit is that they feel that David Cameron has not been playing this referendum with a straight bat. As James said in his Sun column this weekend, the decision to involve foreign governments in the ‘In’ campaign has really annoyed MPs, who were already pretty narked with the Prime Minister’s general demeanour.