The government believes about five Tory pro-Europeans<strong> </strong>including Nicky Morgan are ready to go public with their opposition to the government’s handling of Brexit

There is a febrile atmosphere among Conservative MPs in the House of Commons. Whips are now seen monitoring the drinking holes, apparently there in shifts. They hang around the Thameside Strangers Bar after dinner, observing who is saying what to whom, just in case.

This is the new sternness of Theresa May’s dealings with her party. Gavin Williamson, the chief whip, takes pride in his “turn the clock back” approach to party management. Tory MPs may find he has less time for the softly-softly techniques of his immediate predecessors. His job is to make the parliamentary party look as unified as possible after the referendum created a rupture between the 185 who backed Remain and the 138 who voted to leave.

This week it became