The new generation of Tory rebels

There’s a new member of The Spectator family, and she’s called Spectator Life. This is our new quarterly magazine focusing all the more civilised aspects of life — the arts, culture, travel, etc — and it comes bundled in, for free, with the main magazine. The first issue is available on newsstands this week, but, so you can try before you buy, here is one of its more political articles: an overview of the new generation of Tory rebels, by Toby Young.

The Unwhippables, Toby Young, Spectator Life, Spring 2012

On the night of the great Tory rebellion over Europe, David Cameron had good reason to think that Zac Goldsmith wouldn’t join in. The Prime Minister had just made him ‘climate change and forest envoy’, a task almost tailor-made to suit the young MP’s passions. Surely he wouldn’t jeopardise that? But join them he did. Zac ranked among the ‘Glorious 81’ Tories who defied a three-line whip and voted for an EU referendum on 24 October 2011, one of the largest Tory rebellions in history.