David Cameron is facing a fresh Cabinet revolt amid warnings that Downing Street is censoring eurosceptic ministers in order to keep Britain in the European Union.
Senior officials have taken the extraordinary step of seeking to vet – and in some cases alter - speeches from ministers in Parliament, to tone down their eurosceptic comments, The Telegraph can reveal.
The Cabinet Office and Number 10 are putting pressure on ministers not to sound Eurosceptic
Tory minister
At the same time, pro-European ministers are being encouraged to make their cases for why Britain should vote to stay in the EU in the forthcoming referendum.
Right-wing Tories are furious at what they see as Number 10's coordinated attempt to rig the referendum debate by “gagging” Eurosceptic colleagues.
Downing Street sources rejected the complaints and insisted there was no instruction to ministers not to make eurosceptic statements.
Mr Cameron continues to claim in public that he does not rule out recommending that Britain votes to leave the EU if he cannot get a good enough package of changes to the terms of the UK’s membership.
But the censorship row will fuel suspicions that Mr Cameron and the Chancellor, George Osborne, have already made up their minds to campaign to keep Britain in Europe and are using the Whitehall machine to promote an “in” vote at the referendum.
It comes after the Prime Minister conceded last week that he would have to suspend the long-standing convention of “collective government responsibility” to allow his ministers to campaign on both sides of the referendum debate.
Giving ministers the freedom to take a different view from his own was the only way for Mr Cameron to avoid damaging resignations from his Cabinet, which is split over Europe.
After talks with two Cabinet Eurosceptics - Chris Grayling, the Leader of the Commons, and Theresa Villiers, the Northern Ireland Secretary - Mr Cameron announced that he would allow individual ministers to campaign in favour of leaving the EU once he has finished his negotiations in Brussels.
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/eureferendum/12091326/Tory-Cabinet-ministers-censored-in-new-referendum-row.htmlDo we have an emoji for a sigh? Usual tricks again ....
