Comment, Daily Mail, 23.12.15)
A rigged referendum?
Officially, the Conservative Party will not take sides in the EU referendum, while David Cameron won’t finally declare where he stands until a package of ‘reforms’ is signed and sealed.
So why has party chairman Lord Feldman – a close friend of the PM – been directing donors towards the Britain Stronger in Europe campaign?
Whether or not he is doing this in his ‘spare time’, as he feebly insists, he is betraying party members (a majority, say the polls) who want to leave.
Lord Feldman, pictured, has been directing Conservative Party donors towards the Britain Stronger in Europe campaign even though the party is not supposed to be taking sides during the referendum campaign
Lord Feldman, pictured, has been directing Conservative Party donors towards the Britain Stronger in Europe campaign even though the party is not supposed to be taking sides during the referendum campaign
And since no deal has yet been signed, why has Mr Cameron ordered Whitehall to prepare a dossier for every household, reportedly explaining ‘the benefits of the changes to Britain, and why therefore we need to stay in the EU’?
If these reports are true, this is an abuse of Civil Service neutrality reminiscent of Tony Blair at his worst.
To cap it all, it now emerges that under rules signed off by Mr Cameron, the ‘out’ campaign will be able to spend no more than £11million in the critical final weeks of the campaign, while the ‘in’ lobbyists will be allowed to spend £17million.
Add the gag on eurosceptic ministers – not to mention William Hague’s miraculous conversion to EU membership – and isn’t the referendum looking increasingly like a rigged sham and a shabby stitch-up?
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