News inside the UK about leaving the EU has so far this week (June 8-9) focused on the domestic political aspects of Brexit.
Tension is rising inside the Conservative governing party over whether ministers should be allowed to publicly campaign against the deal PM David Cameron negotiates with the EU.
A rival of Cameron for the sympathies of Conservative MPs over the next two years wants them to be free to speak out. Boris Johnson says that ‘Ministers should be allowed to campaign to leave the EU in the upcoming referendum’.
Cameron is expect to resign as Prime Minister some time after the 2017 UK referendum on EU membership and Johnson is a leading contender for the top job in British politics.
Another Conservative politician is adding to the party’s internal tension at the same time. He is David Davis, a leader of the 50 plus Conservative MPs who want Brexit. He warnst hat Cameron risks reopening the “bitter” internal divisions within the Conservative party over Europe after (Cameron) told ministers they face the sack if they campaign in favour of Britain quitting the European Union.
These two stories underline a developing feature of the struggle over British membership of the EU: it could be more divisive of opinion inside the UK than outside.
