By Tim Montgomerie
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22 Tory MPs have signed George Eustice's amendment to the current motion on an EU referendum. The names are as follows:
- George Eustice
- Andrea Leadsom
- Guto Bebb
- Mike Freer
- Mark Garnier
- Amber Rudd
- Sarah Newton
- Richard Fuller
- Mr Steve Brine
- Jackie Doyle-Price
- Charlie Elphicke
- Margot James
- Simon Kirby
- Karen Lumley
- Claire Perry
- James Wharton
- Nadhim Zahawi
- Gavin Williamson
- Paul Maynard
- David Mowat
- Steven Mosley
- David Morris
As Paul Goodman tweets that equals about 90 MPs not backing Government's position:
It should be noted that two of the names above signed the original David Nuttall motion; David Mowat and Steven Mosley. This reduces the declared number of Nuttall supporters to 66 although I'm aware of three more MPs likely to support Nuttall in the next 48 hours. As Paul tweets, however, if you add the Eustice number to the Nuttall number you get to 90. But I can't imagine loyalists like Nadhim Zahawi backing Nuttall.
I'm also intriqued to see Claire Perry backing the Eustice amendment. She's now a PPS. What does she think she's doing?