The Hero
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It's enough to make you go grey! David Cameron shows the strain after biggest ever Tory mutiny on Europe
David Cameron was showing the strain today after the biggest-ever Tory rebellion on Europe when more than half of his backbenchers defied him in a vote on a referendum on EU membership.
The 45-year-old Prime Minister was seen leaving Downing Street with clearly visible patches of grey hair in the aftermath of the debate and poll last night, which saw a catastrophic 81 Tory MPs defy a three-line whip, the strongest possible party instruction on how to vote.
Thanks to Labour and Lib Dem MPs, the vote was defeated by 483 to 111.
Today a senior backbencher who defied the Government described its position on Europe as 'politically unsustainable' and potentially a 'game-changer' unless Mr Cameron gave assurances to backbenchers over what type of treaty changes would trigger a referendum under the coalition's European Union Act.
Taking its toll: The strain of leading the Coalition Government appeared to be telling when Prime Minister David Cameron left Downing Street today with clearly visible grey patches of hair after suffering a huge Commons rebellion on Europe last night
'It appears now that the policy may be that only a big bang change would trigger a referendum; an incremental treaty change would not,' 1922 committee secretary Mark Pritchard told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.
'My view is that a treaty change is a treaty change. So we need some definition and we need some clarity.
'Hopefully that will be forthcoming over the coming days. If we don't have that clarity I think the Government's position on Europe is politically unsustainable given the crisis in the eurozone and indeed possibly a game-changer just coming months down the line in Europe.'
Warning of further unrest, he said: 'The Conservative Party will move on from the vote last night but I do not think Europe as an issue is going to move on from this Parliament.
'It is going to be more rather than less of an issue.'
Mr Cameron was today likely to be rueing his decision to try to force MPs to follow the party line on an issue that has dogged the Conservatives for decades.
It was a worse mutiny on Europe than any suffered by Ted Heath, Margaret Thatcher or John Major, and came after Mr Cameron told his MPs that they might have to wait years before Britain claws back powers from Brussels.
The result is in: Speaker John Bercow confirms the figures to the House of Commons, which show the Government had a majority of 372
Full house: The chamber was packed with members ahead of the result, which followed more than five hours of debate
The result will lead to a major post mortem in Downing Street over how Mr Cameron came to suffer such a grievous self-inflicted wound.
Colleagues are bewildered as to why the Prime Minister decided to put himself at the centre of a row with backbenchers over a symbolically important but ultimately meaningless vote which he was originally due to miss.
The result will lead to a major post-mortem in Downing Street over how the Prime Minister came to suffer such a grievous self-inflicted wound
The Prime Minister had earlier indicated he has no intention of using imminent talks over reshaping the debt stricken eurozone to demand a fundamental shake-up that would mean looser ties with the European Union.
Aides insisted he had no regrets about triggering a showdown with his dissident MPs and said his priority would be demanding safeguards to stop the 17 countries in the single currency foisting decisions on the UK.
Mr Cameron declared he was yearning for fundamental reform and remained firmly committed to achieving the repatriation of some powers from the EU.
He cast doubt, however, over whether winning back sovereignty would be possible while in coalition with the pro-EU Liberal Democrats meaning reform would have to wait until after the next election in 2015.
Rocking the boat in Brussels would be disastrous at a moment of economic crisis, the Prime Minister told MPs, insisting: When your neighbours house is on fire, your first impulse should be to help him put out the flames not least to stop the flames reaching your own house.
Today David Nuttall, Conservative MP for Bury North, said Europe needs to realise that many people in the UK believe the country has become too closely tied to the EU.
He told Sky News: 'Europe ought to realise that there is a groundswell of opinion in this country that many people feel we have become too entwined with the European Union.
Fueling the flames: Foreign Secretary William Hague dismissed a motion proposing a referendum on Britain's future in the EU as parliamentary 'graffiti'
'Back in 1975 people voted to join a common market. Since then it has developed without ever having had another referendum on what is now the European Union with its own national anthem, its own flag and its own parliament. European rules and regulations intrude into ever more areas of British life.
'I'm interested in trying to get a national referendum because I think that's what the British people want.
'It would be one way of strengthening the Prime Minister's arm in his negotiations with our European partners if he was able to go and say "I have consulted the British people".'
Furious Eurosceptic MPs warned the Prime Minister that having picked a fight with his back benches over the EU, he faced years of rebellion.
The Tory mutiny dwarfed that of 1993, when 41 rebels defied John Major over the Maastricht Treaty.
'If not now, when?' Tory rebel Charles Walker delivered a four-word speech, which is thought to be the shortest ever given in the Commons
Including 17 Conservative MPs who abstained, more than half of Mr Camerons backbench MPs refused to fall into line. It took Tony Blair six years in Downing Street before he suffered a rebellion on such a scale.
Stewart Jackson, Northern Ireland Secretary Owen Patersons parliamentary private secretary, was sacked minutes after voting against the Government. He had told MPs: For me, constituency and country must come before the baubles of ministerial office. I will keep that faith with my constituents and with a heavy heart, I will vote for the motion and I will take the consequences.
Mr Cameron had faced a string of calls from rebel MPs for a referendum over German-led proposals for fiscal union in the eurozone.
They pointed out he has repeatedly pledged to use any potential change to European treaties to claw back powers and insisted it was now clear fundamental reform was being proposed in the EU.
Foreign Secretary William Hague had poured fuel on the flames by dismissing a motion proposing a referendum on Britains future in the EU as parliamentary graffiti.
He said it was completely against the policy of the Government and would make Britains economic position worse.
In a hugely embarrassing blow, Adam Holloway, the ministerial aide to Europe Minister David Lidington, resigned on the floor of the House to join the mutiny. He said: You cant possibly not vote for that when you have been telling your constituents there should be a referendum for years.
Passionate: Mr Cameron told rebel MPs that he respected their views and that they 'disagree about ends, not about means'
Supporters: Members of the United Kingdom Independence Party taking part in a demonstration outside Parliament as the debate got under way
Polls suggest MPs calling for a referendum enjoy strong public support. A ComRes survey for ITVs News at Ten found 68 per cent support the idea of a national vote on whether or not the UK should remain a member of the EU. Yet the Tories, Labour and the Liberal Democrats all ordered their troops to vote against a backbench motion triggered by a public petition, even though the result could have had no impact on government policy.
Mr Cameron told rebel MPs: I respect your views. We disagree about ends, not about means. I support your aims. Like you I want to refashion our membership of the EU so it better serves our countrys interests. Our national interest is for us to be in the EU, helping to determine the rules governing the single market our biggest export market which consumes more than 50 per cent of our exports and which drives so much of investment in the UK.
Mr Cameron insisted his focus in December discussions on treaty changes to allow those countries in the single currency further to integrate their economic policy would be to demand safeguards for Britain.
Senior Tories privately warned Mr Cameron he faces years of trench warfare right up to the next election unless he now gives ground.
Former shadow home secretary David Davis said: We have been told this is the wrong time. This is the time when all the claims of Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel are to centralise the EU even more to create a fiscal union.
It will have an impact on Britain, as the Prime Minister has said. So this is absolutely the time to think about this. We should be protecting ourselves from the consequences of the eurozone.
[h=3]THE TORY REBELS WHO DEFIED A THREE-LINE WHIP[/h]
Steven Baker (Wycombe)
John Baron (Basildon and Billericay)
Andrew Bingham (High Peak)
Brian Binley (Northampton South)
Bob Blackman (Harrow East)
Peter Bone (Wellingborough)
Graham Brady (Altrincham and Sale West)
Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire)
Steve Brine (Winchester)
Fiona Bruce (Congleton)
Dan Byles (North Warwickshire)
Douglas Carswell (Clacton)
Bill Cash (Stone)
Christopher Chope (Christchurch)
James Clappison (Hertsmere)
Tracey Crouch (Chatham and Aylesford)
David TC Davies (Monmouth)
Philip Davies (Shipley)
David Davis (Haltemprice and Howden)
Nick de Bois (Enfield North); Caroline Dinenage (Gosport)
Nadine Dorries (Mid Bedfordshire)
Richard Drax (South Dorset)
Mark Field (Cities of London and Westminster)
Lorraine Fullbrook (South Ribble)
Zac Goldsmith (Richmond Park)
James Gray (North Wiltshire)
Chris Heaton-Harris (Daventry)
Gordon Henderson (Sittingbourne and Sheppey)
George Hollingberry (Meon Valley)
Philip Hollobone (Kettering)
Adam Holloway (Gravesham)
Stewart Jackson (Peterborough)
Bernard Jenkin (Harwich and North Essex)
Marcus Jones (Nuneaton)
Chris Kelly (Dudley South)
Andrea Leadsom (South Northamptonshire)
Jeremy Lefroy (Stafford)
Edward Leigh (Gainsborough)
Julian Lewis (New Forest East)
Dr Sarah Wollaston (Totnes)
Jason McCartney (Colne Valley)
Karl McCartney (Lincoln)
Stephen McPartland (Stevenage)
Anne Main (St Albans)
Patrick Mercer (Newark)
Nigel Mills (Amber Valley)
Anne Marie Morris (Newton Abbot)
James Morris (Halesowen and Rowley Regis)
Stephen Mosley (City of Chester)
Sheryll Murray (South East Cornwall)
David Nuttall (Bury North)
Matthew Offord (Hendon)
Neil Parish (Tiverton and Honiton)
Priti Patel (Witham)
Andrew Percy (Brigg and Goole)
Mark Pritchard (The Wrekin)
Mark Reckless (Rochester and Strood)
John Redwood (Wokingham)
Jacob Rees-Mogg (North East Somerset)
Simon Reevell (Dewsbury)
Laurence Robertson (Tewkesbury)
Andrew Rossindell (Romford)
Richard Shepherd (Aldridge-Brownhills)
Henry Smith (Crawley)
John Stevenson (Carlisle)
Bob Stewart (Beckenham)
Gary Streeter (South West Devon)
Julian Sturdy (York Outer)
Sir Peter Tapsell (Louth and Horncastle)
Justin Tomlinson (North Swindon)
Andrew Turner (Isle of Wight)
Martin Vickers (Cleethorpes)
Charles Walker (Broxbourne)
Robin Walker (Worcester)
Heather Wheeler (South Derbyshire)
Craig Whittaker (Calder Valley)
John Whittingdale (Maldon)
Karen Lumley (Redditch)
Caroline Nokes (Romsey and Southampton North)
[h=2][/h][h=2]Why I won't be a hypocrite, by aide who quit[/h] By ADAM HOLLOWAY MP
Honest course: Adam Holloway says the reason he felt he had to quit was 'because I am not prepared to betray the people who elected me'
I am staggered that loyal people like me have been put in this position.
I support this government sincerely and spiritedly. I was one of the 50 or so to back the Prime Minister in the first ballot of the leadership elections.
I have never voted against the party line even when I have known enough about what I was voting on to disagree. I am mostly enthusiastic about the Coalition in private as well as in public.
But if you cant give such support to a particular policy, the honest course of action is to stand down from your position.
The reason I felt the need to do so is because I am not prepared to betray the people who elected me.
Did any of us imagine, as we made our first acceptance speeches, that the House of Commons would be slagged off as it is today? My mother hates telling people that I am an MP because she hates the reaction she gets. Why the public disillusionment? This country developed and exported the simple idea that laws ought not to be made unless they were made by the peoples elected representatives.
From some of the emails I have been receiving over the last few days, it would seem that some of our constituents are very close to giving up on that notion.
Youre all the same, people tell us. Youll say anything to get elected.
One of the things I agreed with so many of them on was that the British people should at some point have a referendum, and my personal view was that we needed to completely rewire our relationship with Europe. During the last parliament, all three parties promised a referendum on Europe. Apparently 67 per cent of those polled by YouGov this weekend want their MP to vote in favour of this very unspecific, unbinding back-bench motion.
What would it say about the relationship between Parliament and people if we were to deny not only what we have recently promised, but what people out there have asked us to do?
I didnt stand for election in order to cede powers from Parliament to remote officials who are beyond democratic control.
I want decisions to be taken more closely to the people they affect to pass power downwards to local communities, not upwards to Brussels. I made these opinions very clear at the last general election, and was returned to Westminster on that basis.
I am not now prepared to go back on my word to my constituents. Patriotism is putting your countrys interests before your own.
[h=2]MP faints as Cameron turns up the heat on dissident aides[/h]
Mark Menzies fainted as the Prime Minister tried to persuade parliamentary private secretaries not to support the EU referendum motion
A ministerial aide keeled over yesterday when David Cameron launched a last-ditch exercise to make his MPs toe the party line.
Mark Menzies fainted as the Prime Minister tried to persuade parliamentary private secretaries not to support the EU referendum motion.
During the meeting in Mr Camerons Commons office, Mr Menzies collapsed in the heat of the packed room and slumped to the floor.
The 40-year-old MP for Fylde, who is aide to energy minister Charles Hendry, had to be rushed out of the room to await medical help next door.
He was the most obvious casualty of an intense lobbying operation in which Mr Cameron led the arm-twisting efforts.
The Prime Minister summoned several groups of MPs to his office and told them the time was not right for a referendum.
His efforts to win them over were described as cordial but cool, with Mr Camerons body language towards rebels seen as hostile when he was given answers he did not like.
Threats came from people around Mr Cameron however. One figure close to the Prime Minister said: The message is simple: Whats that behind you? Oh, thats your career.
One senior source expressed hope that the threats to deselect troublesome MPs were having some effect.
But Stewart Jackson, PPS to Northern Ireland Secretary Owen Paterson, made clear he would rebel. Mr Jackson asked the PM why he was not supporting a compromise motion which could have defused the confrontation. Many more rebels flatly refused to compromise, despite Mr Camerons best efforts. He spoke for 15 minutes by telephone with one MP, who then told Mr Cameron he was still going to vote against the government.
Tory whips continued to lobby only those who they thought could change their minds.
One MP said: Its nothing to do with the whips. They dont know what Camerons doing either. There has been much rolling of eyes.
Asked about Mr Menzies, a Downing Street spokesman said: It was a very hot room. The Prime Minister did not know anything about it and as soon as he heard he went into the room next door where paramedics were treating him. Last night Mr Menziess office said he had recovered and was attending other meetings.
[h=3]WHO WERE THE OTHER REBELS?[/h]The 80 Conservative MPs who voted for the motion are detailed above. But who were the other members who voted for a referendum.
Nineteen Labour MPs defied the party leadership to support the motion:Ronnie Campbell (Blyth Valley), Rosie Cooper (Lancashire West), Jeremy Corbyn (Islington North), Jon Cruddas (Dagenham & Rainham), John Cryer (Leyton & Wanstead), Ian Davidson (Glasgow South West), Natascha Engel (Derbyshire North East), Frank Field (Birkenhead), Roger Godsiff (Birmingham Hall Green), Kate Hoey (Vauxhall), Kelvin Hopkins (Luton North), Steve McCabe (Birmingham Selly Oak), John McDonnell (Hayes & Harlington), Austin Mitchell (Great Grimsby), Dennis Skinner (Bolsover), Andrew Smith (Oxford East), Graham Stringer (Blackley & Broughton), Gisela Stuart (Birmingham Edgbaston), Mike Wood (Batley & Spen).
One Liberal Democrat, Adrian Sanders (Torbay) voted for the motion.
Green leader Caroline Lucas (Brighton Pavilion) voted for the motion.
Eight Democratic Unionist Party MPs voted for the motion: Gregory Campbell (Londonderry East), Nigel Dodds (Belfast North), Jeffrey Donaldson (Lagan Valley), Rev William McCrea (Antrim South), Ian Paisley Junior (Antrim North), Jim Shannon (Strangford), David Simpson (Upper Bann), Sammy Wilson (Antrim East).
Independent MP Lady Sylvia Hermon (Down North) voted for the motion.
[h=1][/h][h=1]Libyans can rule their own affairs... lucky blighters[/h]
QUENTIN LETTS on a day of frantic activity in the House
Most MPs were limited to five minutes in their speeches. As a result, much of yesterdays big debate had a fast-forward quality, our elected tribunes speaking almost at Pinky and Perky speed as they tried to push home points.
Hurry, hurry, ab-dab jabber. This hurtling pace gave the event a faint air if not of loopiness, certainly of over-pressed excitement. Jokes were greeted with laughter a notch or two more hearty than they strictly deserved. Moderate assertions of integrity ignited ferocious gusts of support.
Ardour was in the air but it had no longer to find a mate than one of those tiny midsummer dusk flies. William Hague, Foreign Secretary, rushed his speech and then legged it for the airport to catch a plane to Australia.
Democratically ruling themselves... unlike us: Libyan women wave their new national flag as they celebrate liberation
Jimmy Hood (Lab, Lanark & Hamilton E) gave a pro-European speech of, even by his own low standards, amazing incompetence. He was wobbling with tension by the end of it.
With one or two exceptions, the action was entirely on the Conservative side. Things became so jumpy that one Tory woman even quoted Gandhi.
Across the Coalition sides back benches there was clucking in the hen house. Heads pushed to and fro on indignant necks. Lots of arms were crossed. Chins dropped and rose as their owners showed approval for what their colleagues were saying.
Enlarge
The Prime Minister blurted his way through his prepared speech and it did not go down well with many on his side
Absolutely! we heard from the more determined demanders for a referendum. Yes! Quite! Indeed!
Mark Reckless (Con, Rochester & Strood) squeezed his knees together. Did he need his potty? Mr Reckless, one of several Tories to diss David Cameron, rocked on his buttocks, mumbling, fiddling with his spectacles.
If hed been sitting on a park bench, the wardens might have moved him on.
There were some pro-Government schlurpy-schlurpers. Most eager greaser was Nadhim Zahawi (Con, Stratford-on-Avon).
Mr Zahawi is one of those ex-businessmen who keeps saying as a former businessman, I This titan of commerce assured us that no businessman would hold a referendum at this time.
The speech of Charles Walker (Con, Broxbourne) comprised just four words: If not now, when? Brilliant!
Valiant bids for preferment under the Tory whips were heard from Andrea Leadsom (South Northants), Harriet Baldwin (Con, W Worcs) and Richard Harrington (Watford).
The backbench debate was expected to start at 4.30pm but Mr Cameron pre-empted this by making, effectively, a main-debate speech under the guise of a ministerial statement at 3.30pm. He was supposed to be talking about the European summit last weekend but instead turned it into a defence of his position.
He also announced that it was a day of liberation for the Libyans who would now be able to rule their own affairs. Lucky blighters. Why cant we do the same?
The Prime Minister blurted his way through his prepared speech and it did not go down well with many on his side.
Anne Main (Con, St Albans), lower lip protruding, shook her head in disagreement. Mrs Main later made a speech in which she became so exasperated by her Government that she waved her hands in the air like a disco-dancing locust.
Tory Mark Pritchard defended the conduct of his fellow Eurosceptics. 'They are not rebels. They are patriots!'
Mr Cameron did better when he took questions from the House. His sunniest moment came when he mocked the madly pro-Euro stance of the Labour leader, Ed Miliband. Both Messrs Cameron and Hague suggested that European treaties are going to have to be redrawn, whatever happens.
Outside the Commons, elderly chaps in colourful clothes carried the purple banner of the UK Independence Party. An MEP drove round Parliament Square in a van, its flanks covered with a photograph of a gagged woman.
Inside the Chamber, Mark Pritchard (Con, The Wrekin) defended the conduct of his fellow Eurosceptics. They are not rebels. They are patriots! he cried. Adam Holloway (Con, Gravesham) sacrificed his nascent Government career by supporting the rebels.
Im staggered that loyal people such as me have been put in this position, said Mr Holloway. Fair point. This confrontation was caused only by Downing Streets stupidity.
David Cameron was showing the strain today after the biggest-ever Tory rebellion on Europe when more than half of his backbenchers defied him in a vote on a referendum on EU membership.
The 45-year-old Prime Minister was seen leaving Downing Street with clearly visible patches of grey hair in the aftermath of the debate and poll last night, which saw a catastrophic 81 Tory MPs defy a three-line whip, the strongest possible party instruction on how to vote.
Thanks to Labour and Lib Dem MPs, the vote was defeated by 483 to 111.
Today a senior backbencher who defied the Government described its position on Europe as 'politically unsustainable' and potentially a 'game-changer' unless Mr Cameron gave assurances to backbenchers over what type of treaty changes would trigger a referendum under the coalition's European Union Act.
Taking its toll: The strain of leading the Coalition Government appeared to be telling when Prime Minister David Cameron left Downing Street today with clearly visible grey patches of hair after suffering a huge Commons rebellion on Europe last night
'It appears now that the policy may be that only a big bang change would trigger a referendum; an incremental treaty change would not,' 1922 committee secretary Mark Pritchard told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.
'My view is that a treaty change is a treaty change. So we need some definition and we need some clarity.
'Hopefully that will be forthcoming over the coming days. If we don't have that clarity I think the Government's position on Europe is politically unsustainable given the crisis in the eurozone and indeed possibly a game-changer just coming months down the line in Europe.'
Warning of further unrest, he said: 'The Conservative Party will move on from the vote last night but I do not think Europe as an issue is going to move on from this Parliament.
'It is going to be more rather than less of an issue.'
Mr Cameron was today likely to be rueing his decision to try to force MPs to follow the party line on an issue that has dogged the Conservatives for decades.
It was a worse mutiny on Europe than any suffered by Ted Heath, Margaret Thatcher or John Major, and came after Mr Cameron told his MPs that they might have to wait years before Britain claws back powers from Brussels.
The result will lead to a major post mortem in Downing Street over how Mr Cameron came to suffer such a grievous self-inflicted wound.
Colleagues are bewildered as to why the Prime Minister decided to put himself at the centre of a row with backbenchers over a symbolically important but ultimately meaningless vote which he was originally due to miss.
The Prime Minister had earlier indicated he has no intention of using imminent talks over reshaping the debt stricken eurozone to demand a fundamental shake-up that would mean looser ties with the European Union.
Aides insisted he had no regrets about triggering a showdown with his dissident MPs and said his priority would be demanding safeguards to stop the 17 countries in the single currency foisting decisions on the UK.
Mr Cameron declared he was yearning for fundamental reform and remained firmly committed to achieving the repatriation of some powers from the EU.
He cast doubt, however, over whether winning back sovereignty would be possible while in coalition with the pro-EU Liberal Democrats meaning reform would have to wait until after the next election in 2015.
Rocking the boat in Brussels would be disastrous at a moment of economic crisis, the Prime Minister told MPs, insisting: When your neighbours house is on fire, your first impulse should be to help him put out the flames not least to stop the flames reaching your own house.
Today David Nuttall, Conservative MP for Bury North, said Europe needs to realise that many people in the UK believe the country has become too closely tied to the EU.
He told Sky News: 'Europe ought to realise that there is a groundswell of opinion in this country that many people feel we have become too entwined with the European Union.
'Back in 1975 people voted to join a common market. Since then it has developed without ever having had another referendum on what is now the European Union with its own national anthem, its own flag and its own parliament. European rules and regulations intrude into ever more areas of British life.
'I'm interested in trying to get a national referendum because I think that's what the British people want.
'It would be one way of strengthening the Prime Minister's arm in his negotiations with our European partners if he was able to go and say "I have consulted the British people".'
Furious Eurosceptic MPs warned the Prime Minister that having picked a fight with his back benches over the EU, he faced years of rebellion.
The Tory mutiny dwarfed that of 1993, when 41 rebels defied John Major over the Maastricht Treaty.
Including 17 Conservative MPs who abstained, more than half of Mr Camerons backbench MPs refused to fall into line. It took Tony Blair six years in Downing Street before he suffered a rebellion on such a scale.
Stewart Jackson, Northern Ireland Secretary Owen Patersons parliamentary private secretary, was sacked minutes after voting against the Government. He had told MPs: For me, constituency and country must come before the baubles of ministerial office. I will keep that faith with my constituents and with a heavy heart, I will vote for the motion and I will take the consequences.
Mr Cameron had faced a string of calls from rebel MPs for a referendum over German-led proposals for fiscal union in the eurozone.
They pointed out he has repeatedly pledged to use any potential change to European treaties to claw back powers and insisted it was now clear fundamental reform was being proposed in the EU.
Foreign Secretary William Hague had poured fuel on the flames by dismissing a motion proposing a referendum on Britains future in the EU as parliamentary graffiti.
He said it was completely against the policy of the Government and would make Britains economic position worse.
In a hugely embarrassing blow, Adam Holloway, the ministerial aide to Europe Minister David Lidington, resigned on the floor of the House to join the mutiny. He said: You cant possibly not vote for that when you have been telling your constituents there should be a referendum for years.
Polls suggest MPs calling for a referendum enjoy strong public support. A ComRes survey for ITVs News at Ten found 68 per cent support the idea of a national vote on whether or not the UK should remain a member of the EU. Yet the Tories, Labour and the Liberal Democrats all ordered their troops to vote against a backbench motion triggered by a public petition, even though the result could have had no impact on government policy.
Mr Cameron told rebel MPs: I respect your views. We disagree about ends, not about means. I support your aims. Like you I want to refashion our membership of the EU so it better serves our countrys interests. Our national interest is for us to be in the EU, helping to determine the rules governing the single market our biggest export market which consumes more than 50 per cent of our exports and which drives so much of investment in the UK.
Mr Cameron insisted his focus in December discussions on treaty changes to allow those countries in the single currency further to integrate their economic policy would be to demand safeguards for Britain.
Senior Tories privately warned Mr Cameron he faces years of trench warfare right up to the next election unless he now gives ground.
Former shadow home secretary David Davis said: We have been told this is the wrong time. This is the time when all the claims of Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel are to centralise the EU even more to create a fiscal union.
It will have an impact on Britain, as the Prime Minister has said. So this is absolutely the time to think about this. We should be protecting ourselves from the consequences of the eurozone.
[h=3]THE TORY REBELS WHO DEFIED A THREE-LINE WHIP[/h]
Steven Baker (Wycombe)
John Baron (Basildon and Billericay)
Andrew Bingham (High Peak)
Brian Binley (Northampton South)
Bob Blackman (Harrow East)
Peter Bone (Wellingborough)
Graham Brady (Altrincham and Sale West)
Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire)
Steve Brine (Winchester)
Fiona Bruce (Congleton)
Dan Byles (North Warwickshire)
Douglas Carswell (Clacton)
Bill Cash (Stone)
Christopher Chope (Christchurch)
James Clappison (Hertsmere)
Tracey Crouch (Chatham and Aylesford)
David TC Davies (Monmouth)
Philip Davies (Shipley)
David Davis (Haltemprice and Howden)
Nick de Bois (Enfield North); Caroline Dinenage (Gosport)
Nadine Dorries (Mid Bedfordshire)
Richard Drax (South Dorset)
Mark Field (Cities of London and Westminster)
Lorraine Fullbrook (South Ribble)
Zac Goldsmith (Richmond Park)
James Gray (North Wiltshire)
Chris Heaton-Harris (Daventry)
Gordon Henderson (Sittingbourne and Sheppey)
George Hollingberry (Meon Valley)
Philip Hollobone (Kettering)
Adam Holloway (Gravesham)
Stewart Jackson (Peterborough)
Bernard Jenkin (Harwich and North Essex)
Marcus Jones (Nuneaton)
Chris Kelly (Dudley South)
Andrea Leadsom (South Northamptonshire)
Jeremy Lefroy (Stafford)
Edward Leigh (Gainsborough)
Julian Lewis (New Forest East)
Dr Sarah Wollaston (Totnes)
Jason McCartney (Colne Valley)
Karl McCartney (Lincoln)
Stephen McPartland (Stevenage)
Anne Main (St Albans)
Patrick Mercer (Newark)
Nigel Mills (Amber Valley)
Anne Marie Morris (Newton Abbot)
James Morris (Halesowen and Rowley Regis)
Stephen Mosley (City of Chester)
Sheryll Murray (South East Cornwall)
David Nuttall (Bury North)
Matthew Offord (Hendon)
Neil Parish (Tiverton and Honiton)
Priti Patel (Witham)
Andrew Percy (Brigg and Goole)
Mark Pritchard (The Wrekin)
Mark Reckless (Rochester and Strood)
John Redwood (Wokingham)
Jacob Rees-Mogg (North East Somerset)
Simon Reevell (Dewsbury)
Laurence Robertson (Tewkesbury)
Andrew Rossindell (Romford)
Richard Shepherd (Aldridge-Brownhills)
Henry Smith (Crawley)
John Stevenson (Carlisle)
Bob Stewart (Beckenham)
Gary Streeter (South West Devon)
Julian Sturdy (York Outer)
Sir Peter Tapsell (Louth and Horncastle)
Justin Tomlinson (North Swindon)
Andrew Turner (Isle of Wight)
Martin Vickers (Cleethorpes)
Charles Walker (Broxbourne)
Robin Walker (Worcester)
Heather Wheeler (South Derbyshire)
Craig Whittaker (Calder Valley)
John Whittingdale (Maldon)
Karen Lumley (Redditch)
Caroline Nokes (Romsey and Southampton North)
[h=2][/h][h=2]Why I won't be a hypocrite, by aide who quit[/h] By ADAM HOLLOWAY MP
I am staggered that loyal people like me have been put in this position.
I support this government sincerely and spiritedly. I was one of the 50 or so to back the Prime Minister in the first ballot of the leadership elections.
I have never voted against the party line even when I have known enough about what I was voting on to disagree. I am mostly enthusiastic about the Coalition in private as well as in public.
But if you cant give such support to a particular policy, the honest course of action is to stand down from your position.
The reason I felt the need to do so is because I am not prepared to betray the people who elected me.
Did any of us imagine, as we made our first acceptance speeches, that the House of Commons would be slagged off as it is today? My mother hates telling people that I am an MP because she hates the reaction she gets. Why the public disillusionment? This country developed and exported the simple idea that laws ought not to be made unless they were made by the peoples elected representatives.
From some of the emails I have been receiving over the last few days, it would seem that some of our constituents are very close to giving up on that notion.
Youre all the same, people tell us. Youll say anything to get elected.
One of the things I agreed with so many of them on was that the British people should at some point have a referendum, and my personal view was that we needed to completely rewire our relationship with Europe. During the last parliament, all three parties promised a referendum on Europe. Apparently 67 per cent of those polled by YouGov this weekend want their MP to vote in favour of this very unspecific, unbinding back-bench motion.
What would it say about the relationship between Parliament and people if we were to deny not only what we have recently promised, but what people out there have asked us to do?
I didnt stand for election in order to cede powers from Parliament to remote officials who are beyond democratic control.
I want decisions to be taken more closely to the people they affect to pass power downwards to local communities, not upwards to Brussels. I made these opinions very clear at the last general election, and was returned to Westminster on that basis.
I am not now prepared to go back on my word to my constituents. Patriotism is putting your countrys interests before your own.
[h=2]MP faints as Cameron turns up the heat on dissident aides[/h]
A ministerial aide keeled over yesterday when David Cameron launched a last-ditch exercise to make his MPs toe the party line.
Mark Menzies fainted as the Prime Minister tried to persuade parliamentary private secretaries not to support the EU referendum motion.
During the meeting in Mr Camerons Commons office, Mr Menzies collapsed in the heat of the packed room and slumped to the floor.
The 40-year-old MP for Fylde, who is aide to energy minister Charles Hendry, had to be rushed out of the room to await medical help next door.
He was the most obvious casualty of an intense lobbying operation in which Mr Cameron led the arm-twisting efforts.
The Prime Minister summoned several groups of MPs to his office and told them the time was not right for a referendum.
His efforts to win them over were described as cordial but cool, with Mr Camerons body language towards rebels seen as hostile when he was given answers he did not like.
Threats came from people around Mr Cameron however. One figure close to the Prime Minister said: The message is simple: Whats that behind you? Oh, thats your career.
One senior source expressed hope that the threats to deselect troublesome MPs were having some effect.
But Stewart Jackson, PPS to Northern Ireland Secretary Owen Paterson, made clear he would rebel. Mr Jackson asked the PM why he was not supporting a compromise motion which could have defused the confrontation. Many more rebels flatly refused to compromise, despite Mr Camerons best efforts. He spoke for 15 minutes by telephone with one MP, who then told Mr Cameron he was still going to vote against the government.
Tory whips continued to lobby only those who they thought could change their minds.
One MP said: Its nothing to do with the whips. They dont know what Camerons doing either. There has been much rolling of eyes.
Asked about Mr Menzies, a Downing Street spokesman said: It was a very hot room. The Prime Minister did not know anything about it and as soon as he heard he went into the room next door where paramedics were treating him. Last night Mr Menziess office said he had recovered and was attending other meetings.
[h=3]WHO WERE THE OTHER REBELS?[/h]The 80 Conservative MPs who voted for the motion are detailed above. But who were the other members who voted for a referendum.
Nineteen Labour MPs defied the party leadership to support the motion:Ronnie Campbell (Blyth Valley), Rosie Cooper (Lancashire West), Jeremy Corbyn (Islington North), Jon Cruddas (Dagenham & Rainham), John Cryer (Leyton & Wanstead), Ian Davidson (Glasgow South West), Natascha Engel (Derbyshire North East), Frank Field (Birkenhead), Roger Godsiff (Birmingham Hall Green), Kate Hoey (Vauxhall), Kelvin Hopkins (Luton North), Steve McCabe (Birmingham Selly Oak), John McDonnell (Hayes & Harlington), Austin Mitchell (Great Grimsby), Dennis Skinner (Bolsover), Andrew Smith (Oxford East), Graham Stringer (Blackley & Broughton), Gisela Stuart (Birmingham Edgbaston), Mike Wood (Batley & Spen).
One Liberal Democrat, Adrian Sanders (Torbay) voted for the motion.
Green leader Caroline Lucas (Brighton Pavilion) voted for the motion.
Eight Democratic Unionist Party MPs voted for the motion: Gregory Campbell (Londonderry East), Nigel Dodds (Belfast North), Jeffrey Donaldson (Lagan Valley), Rev William McCrea (Antrim South), Ian Paisley Junior (Antrim North), Jim Shannon (Strangford), David Simpson (Upper Bann), Sammy Wilson (Antrim East).
Independent MP Lady Sylvia Hermon (Down North) voted for the motion.
[h=1][/h][h=1]Libyans can rule their own affairs... lucky blighters[/h]
QUENTIN LETTS on a day of frantic activity in the House
Most MPs were limited to five minutes in their speeches. As a result, much of yesterdays big debate had a fast-forward quality, our elected tribunes speaking almost at Pinky and Perky speed as they tried to push home points.
Hurry, hurry, ab-dab jabber. This hurtling pace gave the event a faint air if not of loopiness, certainly of over-pressed excitement. Jokes were greeted with laughter a notch or two more hearty than they strictly deserved. Moderate assertions of integrity ignited ferocious gusts of support.
Ardour was in the air but it had no longer to find a mate than one of those tiny midsummer dusk flies. William Hague, Foreign Secretary, rushed his speech and then legged it for the airport to catch a plane to Australia.
Jimmy Hood (Lab, Lanark & Hamilton E) gave a pro-European speech of, even by his own low standards, amazing incompetence. He was wobbling with tension by the end of it.
With one or two exceptions, the action was entirely on the Conservative side. Things became so jumpy that one Tory woman even quoted Gandhi.
Across the Coalition sides back benches there was clucking in the hen house. Heads pushed to and fro on indignant necks. Lots of arms were crossed. Chins dropped and rose as their owners showed approval for what their colleagues were saying.
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Absolutely! we heard from the more determined demanders for a referendum. Yes! Quite! Indeed!
Mark Reckless (Con, Rochester & Strood) squeezed his knees together. Did he need his potty? Mr Reckless, one of several Tories to diss David Cameron, rocked on his buttocks, mumbling, fiddling with his spectacles.
If hed been sitting on a park bench, the wardens might have moved him on.
There were some pro-Government schlurpy-schlurpers. Most eager greaser was Nadhim Zahawi (Con, Stratford-on-Avon).
Mr Zahawi is one of those ex-businessmen who keeps saying as a former businessman, I This titan of commerce assured us that no businessman would hold a referendum at this time.
The speech of Charles Walker (Con, Broxbourne) comprised just four words: If not now, when? Brilliant!
Valiant bids for preferment under the Tory whips were heard from Andrea Leadsom (South Northants), Harriet Baldwin (Con, W Worcs) and Richard Harrington (Watford).
The backbench debate was expected to start at 4.30pm but Mr Cameron pre-empted this by making, effectively, a main-debate speech under the guise of a ministerial statement at 3.30pm. He was supposed to be talking about the European summit last weekend but instead turned it into a defence of his position.
He also announced that it was a day of liberation for the Libyans who would now be able to rule their own affairs. Lucky blighters. Why cant we do the same?
The Prime Minister blurted his way through his prepared speech and it did not go down well with many on his side.
Anne Main (Con, St Albans), lower lip protruding, shook her head in disagreement. Mrs Main later made a speech in which she became so exasperated by her Government that she waved her hands in the air like a disco-dancing locust.
Mr Cameron did better when he took questions from the House. His sunniest moment came when he mocked the madly pro-Euro stance of the Labour leader, Ed Miliband. Both Messrs Cameron and Hague suggested that European treaties are going to have to be redrawn, whatever happens.
Outside the Commons, elderly chaps in colourful clothes carried the purple banner of the UK Independence Party. An MEP drove round Parliament Square in a van, its flanks covered with a photograph of a gagged woman.
Inside the Chamber, Mark Pritchard (Con, The Wrekin) defended the conduct of his fellow Eurosceptics. They are not rebels. They are patriots! he cried. Adam Holloway (Con, Gravesham) sacrificed his nascent Government career by supporting the rebels.
Im staggered that loyal people such as me have been put in this position, said Mr Holloway. Fair point. This confrontation was caused only by Downing Streets stupidity.