An orderly Brexit depends on a united Tory party. So start stockpiling now | Matthew d’Ancona

Loyalty is traditionally the ‘secret weapon’ of the Conservatives. But never when it comes to Europe

Let us take a stroll down the shabby corridors of Conservative history: it is June 1997, and the party leadership vacated by John Major after New Labour’s landslide is being contested, in the second round of the race, by William Hague, John Redwood and Kenneth Clarke.

In a desperate bid to see off Hague, the arch-Europhile Clarke and the arch-Eurosceptic Redwood form a pact, founded on the principle that Europe will be an open issue in the party and that Tory MPs will not be bound by a strict party policy. There is much talk of a historic breakthrough, an end to the long Conservative civil war over Britain’s relationship with the EU, and a new era of internal party unity. But even those responsible for this brief alliance know it is nonsense on stilts. In his memoirs, Clarke jovially describes it as a “last desperate idea”, quickly condemned by MPs on both sides of the divide as a “Nazi-Soviet agreement”.

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from The Guardian http://bit.ly/2RBkttE