Forget Brexit, the Tory Leadership Lines Are Drawn

Yes the button has been pressed for the EU Referendum but the race is truly on for the next Leader of the party and I'm sure the Conservative Party membership shall be vigilantly watching their every move.

It must be an awkward place at the Johnson dinner table, your Dad is pro-Europe and your brother heads a European-centric venture; just get your head down and eat your dinner Boris.

Last week Boris Johnson MP came out in favour of the United Kingdom ending our ménage à trois with the European Union, launching his campaign with the powerful statement "I will be advocating Vote Leave, or whatever the team is called" which he made on his door step.

But is it really a shock that BoJo is coming out in favour of Brexit, you could suggest this isn't anything to do with Europe or crawling back our sovereignty.

Talking about the issue of sovereignty, you could make the point that out of 121 acts of Parliament that were passed over the last term that only 4 acts were passed to fit EU legislation, but that is for another time and place.

It might actually be something to do with the majority of the Tory party being in favour of leaving the EU, Boris has a leadership card to win first and the rest of the voting demographic can wait.

But is Boris truly the bad guy in the Tory Party 'inner' camp?

Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Theresa Villiers MP also nailed her colours as a Brexitier which is a curious decision taking into account Northern Ireland shares a border with Europe.

Around 60% of the Northern Irish are vehemently against leaving Europe considering young people will lose £425 million in EU Peace programme, the Good Friday Agreement is underpinned by European Law and the damage it have on the country's agriculture industry with it potentially losing £1.9 billion in trade.

Ms Villiers is rated very highly as a future Conservative leader, is she putting her future ambitions over Northern Ireland in the hope of a future jostle for power maybe? If that's true it makes Boris Johnson's potential appeasement to party members look far less significant in comparison.

It's clear that Boris Johnson is a bigger beast to Villiers with him being one of the only UK politicians with a positive polling rating and it's clear his split from the Prime Minister has caused seismic ripples in the parliamentarian arm the Conservative Party.

But with Johnson's casting such a large showdown over the populist machine it could have hidden a real aggressive play to wrestle power away from the top boys.

Of course you can't discount IDS, Gove and Priti Patel but if Villiers views and ambition are strong enough to put over half an entire country's apprehension, that's a lady who isn't afraid to play rapacious tactics.

Yes the button has been pressed for the EU Referendum but the race is truly on for the next Leader of the party and I'm sure the Conservative Party membership shall be vigilantly watching their every move.

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