David Cameron’s problems started with a briefing to British journalists at the G7 summit in Germany on Sunday.
He was asked twice about ministers being told they would have to back the government’s position in the EU referendum. The second time the issue came up was when the BBC’s Norman Smith said he wanted to check that he was right in thinking Cameron had “absolutely closed [his] mind to allowing ministers a free vote”.
Cameron replied:
I’ve been very clear, which is I’ve said that if you want to be part of the government, you have to take the view that we are engaged in an exercise of renegotiation to have a referendum, and that will lead to a successful outcome
So anyone in government who opposed that would have to resign, Cameron was asked. He replied:
Everyone in government has signed up to the programme set out in the Conservative manifesto
What was reported?
Journalists at the briefing all took this as a clear indication from Cameron that ministers would not be allowed a free vote. The briefing was embargoed until midnight, and on Monday morning the Daily Telegraph, the Times and the Guardian all splashed on the story. The BBC and other broadcasters also reported Cameron’s comment prominently.
GUARDIAN: PM: I will sack ministers who call for EU exit #tomorrowspaperstoday #BBCPapers pic.twitter.com/K9qPdCW72x
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) June 7, 2015
TELEGRAPH: Cabinet told: vote for Europe or resign #tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers pic.twitter.com/Q4NfZsOYSU
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) June 7, 2015
THE TIMES: Sceptics cry foul as PM raises EU poll cash limit #tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers pic.twitter.com/SLTQX91UuV
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) June 7, 2015
At this point No 10 made no attempt to correct the story. In fact James Wharton, the communities minister, even gave interviews to broadcasters defending the idea that collective responsibility should apply during the referendum.
U-turn
At 11am Downing Street’s line abruptly changed. At the lobby briefing, conducted in Germany with correspondents in Westminster listening in on a conference call, the prime minister’s official spokeswoman claimed that Cameron’s comments had been misinterpreted and that he had only been talking about collective responsibility applying during the renegotiation period. What happened during the referendum was different, she said. She claimed Cameron had not yet said whether or not ministers would be allowed to campaign for Britain to leave in the referendum.
The spokeswoman could not explain why the alleged mistake had not been corrected earlier, or why Cameron would be worried about the prospect of ministers dissenting during the renegotiation. It was also pointed out that, in an interview with Andrew Marr in January, Cameron explicitly said there would not be a free vote for ministers during the referendum.
Cameron’s reply to Marr was reported at the time, but it did not generate as much controversy as his comment on Sunday. That’s because, with the EU referendum legislation now about to start its passage through parliament, the issue has become much more combustious for Tory MPs. Monday’s headlines generated an angry response from Tory MPs such as David Davis and Andrew Mitchell, who both said it would be a big mistake to deny ministers a free vote.
After the G7 summit wrapped up, Cameron faced the reporters again at a news conference in Germany. Repeating the line used by his official spokeswoman, he said he had been misinterpreted. But he struggled to explain why, if he was not ruling out a free vote for ministers, he had said the opposite on the Andrew Marr show. Cameron said that in that interview Marr had been interrupting him a great deal, and that as a result the transcript was not entirely clear.
