Pity those Tory MPs, torn between leader and local party

The best of Voices delivered to your inbox every week - from controversial columns to expert analysis Sign up for our free weekly Voices newsletter for expert opinion and columns Sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Tapping into the irritating vogue for sharing pictures of sunsets with “life-affirming” quotes about how you should dance like nobody’s watching and treat yourself because no one else will, the Prime Minister this week told his MPs that “people should do what is in their heart” when it comes to deciding how to vote in the referendum. Cameron is well aware that, even if he gets a surprising number of MPs backing his stance in the referendum, he won’t take his entire party with him. This doesn’t matter that much to someone who plans to step down as party leader before the next election – but it does matter to the MPs who go back each week to their constituencies, and who will need to convince those associations to take them on again after the planned changes to constituency boundaries in 2018. Those Tories might feel a little less unsettled by the heated debates at their local meetings, but their newly elected colleagues will be experiencing constituency divisions for the first time – and on a matter of even greater importance to the Conservative Party than marriage and the family.