Last night saw 81 Conservative MPs rebel against the Government, making it not only the largest ever Tory rebellion on Europe in Government, but very nearly twice as large as the previous biggest Tory rebellion suffered by David Cameron in Government.
The 81 Conservatives were joined in the aye lobby by 19 Labour rebels, eight DUP members, one independent unionist, …
Oh happy days. Just when we think we’re getting a bit tired of doing this rebellions lark, along comes something like Monday’s Euro rebellion. We knew it would be big, but we were surprised it was quite that big. Today’s Sun has a Rebelometer, which points to: Utter Disaster. That’s going a bit far, but not much.
So here’s …
The first benchmark for today’s vote is 41 Conservative MPs. That is (as we have explained before) both the largest Conservative rebellion by government MPs against Europe ever AND the largest Conservative rebellion so far during this Parliament. Should at least 42 Conservative MPs rebel, then this will be the largest Conservative euro revolt ever. Forty-two is also …
As the size of Monday’s Conservative rebellion over a referendum on EU membership appears to grow – Newsnight on Friday were talking about 100 Conservative MPs defying the whip – David Cameron might well be wishing that he had led the Conservative Party in the 1950s. There were two sessions during that decade in which not a single government MP …
The parties’ contrasting policy shifts over ‘Europe’ during the last 30 years – Labour moving from opposition to support, the Conservative going in the other direction – is well understood.
What is less well appreciated is that the issue is no longer the prime example of party division that it once was. There is still a division within Labour, but the …
As it increases its influence in the developing world, China now faces the same kind of challenges as are confronted by Europe.
The ongoing conflict in Libya is such an example. Chinese and European workers have been forced to flee the country, leading to a huge loss of business. Such problems are likely to reoccur as the resource-rich regions of …
This blog is produced by members of the School of Politics and International Relation at the University of Nottingham, and will include occasional guest pieces. The analysis contained in each entry is informed by our internationally-ranked research, and we hope it will help readers better understand the political dynamics that underpin the world in which we all live.
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