Drilling down into the subtext of yesterday’s Surrey Hills gas site announcement, politicos might infer an additional motivation for the decision by the government. Minister Stuart Andrew has overruled the local Tory-run council to approve gas drilling on the edge of Surrey Hills, with three years of exploratory drilling now set to commence. The government’s announcement comes despite outspoken opposition from the local South West Surrey Tory MP… would-be leadership challenger, Jeremy Hunt. Groundbreaking revenge…
UPDATE: Hunt has written to Michael Gove to protest that “the decision to allow drilling at Dunsfold is bitterly disappointing and wrong both economically and environmentally”.
Stuart Andrew and Michael Tomlinson are the latest Tory MPs to come out in favour of Brexit, bringing the total number of Outers on Guido’s spreadsheet to 141. 26 remain undeclared, amongst them several who could conceivably back Leave. The final number of Leave Tory MPs will be considerably higher than most predicted.
Among MEPs the big one to watch is Syed Kamall, a fierce Eurosceptic who is the leader of the Tories in Brussels. Syed has railed against the EU’s “one-size-fits-all superstate”, arguing that we should “turn our backs on the parliament of the backroom deal, [and] leave behind the parliament of intolerance of minority views that challenge convention”. He is under severe pressure and has not been taking Guido’s calls. Conscience versus career…
