The recent European commission bill for £1.7bn has catalysed more than the usual politicking. We have seen strange bedfellows emerge in Labour’s Ed Balls, Ukip’s Nigel Farage and Conservative MEP Daniel Hannan, who have come together on a joint platform of political opportunism, nationalist pandering and a mission to push the Conservative party out of the centre right.

Balls suggested the government should consider taking the commission to the European court of justice should it continue to insist on a 1 December deadline. But Osborne’s success in agreeing an interest-free delayed payment plan has gone unacknowledged by Labour. We have also seen Farage and Ukip use these events to perpetuate a narrative that ultimately ends with Britain’s exit from the EU. Unfortunately for the Conservatives, my political party, the problem is also much closer to home.

Hannan has been vocally critical of the party leadership and clearly seems far more aligned to the Ukip message than the more nuanced position that mainstream parties have taken on the EU. Hannan was recently one of three Conservative MEPs who voted against the formation of a new European commission. It was an act in total defiance of the leadership’s line and undermined Britain’s interests in the EU. The UK will not achieve the concessions it desires from Europe if it continues to treat European institutions as a playground for undermining the EU as a whole.

The need for greater direction and discipline within the Conservative party will be critical in the run-up to the election; two Tory MPs have already defected to Ukip and questions remain as to what role some Conservatives may have played in this. Without discipline, the danger is that Hannan and company could drag the Conservative party further to the right, leading to the party losing its direction, its moral compass and a balanced perspective on the UK’s engagement with the EU – and with all of that the general election. We abandon the centre-right at our peril.

The fact remains that we are within an EU that has not yet seen the change it needs and that many people, including myself, have been calling for. Instead we see the same old guard occupying all the key roles.

But we must play the hand we have been dealt. And instead of advocating an EU exit, something that would see Britain subjected to many of the same trading regulations without having a say in what those regulations should be, we need to remain a part of the club so we can fight our corner and help shift the union towards the reform it needs.

The EU backdated bill was unfair and unreasonable and has understandably been criticised. But we should be careful that the issue is not used to propel a populist narrative that creates the mood music for a withdrawal from the EU.