This weekend, a group of Conservatives wrote an open letter to small and independent business owners encouraging them to join the party.

Signing up to the Tories, their argument went, was the best way not just to oppose Jeremy Corbyn, but to ensure the Conservative Party did not become the “plaything” of the European Research Group of hardline Brexiteers. Small business owners, these MPs believe, are more likely to oppose a no-deal and to vote accordingly in any future leadership election.

But whatever your views about the Tory leadership or Brexit, this approach gets things the wrong way round. Rather than considering ways in which small businesses can help the Conservative Party, MPs should be asking what they can do to help those businesses.

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