Conservative Party members ordered not to campaign to leave the EU

The Conservative Party have written to local associations to tell them that they are not allowed to campaign to leave the EU.

The letter warns staff that any campaigning they do must be carried out in a personal capacity, in their own time and not using any party facilities. They have also been warned not to use Conservative Party buildings for meetings.

Interestingly, the letter informs associations that the Conservative Party won't be registering as a member of either campaign in the referendum, depriving the BSE campaign of funding and reducing the huge gulf between what the Leave campaign and the eurofederalist BSE campaign will be allowed to spend.

The referendum campaigning ban is unlikely to be received particularly well on the ground given a poll last week which showed an overwhelming majority of Conservative Party members intend to vote to leave the EU. This is yet another example of just how far removed the party leadership is from the views of their membership and the level of contempt they hold for the opinions of their grassroots members.