All this blue-on-blue Tory conflict is just handing Labour ammunition

The Tory party has been far from unified since Brexit – now they’re engaged in all-out fighting, writes Sean O’Grady

Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss face calls to do more for the poorest as the cost of living crisis mounts (PA)

It can be funny how things turn out, can’t it? A mere six or seven years ago David Cameron decided to hold the ill-fated EU referendum, reportedly muttering “I can do this” to those who urged prevarication and caution. When the referendum did get under way, Cameron then went to great lengths to try and prevent blue-on-blue conflict – that is, members of his own government laying into each other making the task of reunifying the party after he’d won the referendum much more difficult.

Fair to say it hasn’t turned out like that. The Conservatives are still banging on about Europe, and the leaders of the party are engaged in open fighting, often enough about personality as much as policy.

No matter how many times rival camps are urged to cool it and stop providing Labour with valuable future ammunition, they really cannot help themselves. The veritable circular flying squads just get up and start all over again, whether on TV, on the hustings stage or via the usual channels of spin and misinformation.