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| What is purdah and why is the Conservative party infighting over the Persian word for curtain? | What is purdah and why is the Conservative party infighting over the Persian word for curtain? |
| (4 months later) | |
| Infighting has broken out in the Conservative party over the Persian word for curtain: purdah. | |
| What is purdah? | What is purdah? |
| The term is used to describe the period between the time the election is announced and the date the election is held and imposes a ban on promotional material produced by central and local government that could affect how people vote. | The term is used to describe the period between the time the election is announced and the date the election is held and imposes a ban on promotional material produced by central and local government that could affect how people vote. |
| Under purdah rules, Whitehall departments and civil servants are banned from using official government resources to make the case for any side in an election | Under purdah rules, Whitehall departments and civil servants are banned from using official government resources to make the case for any side in an election |
| Civil servants are restricted only to produce the bare facts and procedural information during the purdah period, meaning press offices are not allowed to distribute information that might be deemed as biased. | |
| Why does the government want to relax purdah rules for the EU referendum? | Why does the government want to relax purdah rules for the EU referendum? |
| David Cameron wants to lift the restrictive purdah rules during the EU referendum campaign for several reasons. | David Cameron wants to lift the restrictive purdah rules during the EU referendum campaign for several reasons. |
| Firstly, he is worried that imposing the usual limits on during the campaign would impair the government’s other responsibilities. The EU referendum may be crucial but it still has to run the country and there are plenty of other important issues the government has to deal with during the campaign. It’s not like an election – we will have the same Conservative government regardless of the result in the referendum. | Firstly, he is worried that imposing the usual limits on during the campaign would impair the government’s other responsibilities. The EU referendum may be crucial but it still has to run the country and there are plenty of other important issues the government has to deal with during the campaign. It’s not like an election – we will have the same Conservative government regardless of the result in the referendum. |
| Secondly, the Prime Minister has made it clear the government will not be neutral during the referendum. He is aiming to secure a successful renegotiation of Britain’s relationship with the EU, which he then hopes British voters will vote in favour of when he puts it to a national vote before the end of 2017. | Secondly, the Prime Minister has made it clear the government will not be neutral during the referendum. He is aiming to secure a successful renegotiation of Britain’s relationship with the EU, which he then hopes British voters will vote in favour of when he puts it to a national vote before the end of 2017. |
| He does not want to be restricted in his ability to persuade voters to back his renegotiated settlement. | |
| Thirdly, the Westminster and Edinburgh governments came very close to breaching purdah rules. Like in the EU referendum, neither were neutral, which led to civil servants producing clearly biased documents – on orders from their ministers – in efforts to persuade voters of their respective arguments. | Thirdly, the Westminster and Edinburgh governments came very close to breaching purdah rules. Like in the EU referendum, neither were neutral, which led to civil servants producing clearly biased documents – on orders from their ministers – in efforts to persuade voters of their respective arguments. |
| By scrapping purdah for the EU referendum it would free central and local government of the danger of breaking the restrictive purdah rules. | By scrapping purdah for the EU referendum it would free central and local government of the danger of breaking the restrictive purdah rules. |
| Why are Tory MPs rebelling over plans to suspend purdah? | Why are Tory MPs rebelling over plans to suspend purdah? |
| Eurosceptic MPs fear that lifting the normal restrictions on the government’s ability to influence the EU referendum result in the run up to the vote would lead to the powerful Whitehall machinery churning out pro-EU material and would impose no limits on local government distributing similar literature to voters. | Eurosceptic MPs fear that lifting the normal restrictions on the government’s ability to influence the EU referendum result in the run up to the vote would lead to the powerful Whitehall machinery churning out pro-EU material and would impose no limits on local government distributing similar literature to voters. |
| Bernard Jenkin, a leading Tory Eurosceptic MP, said lifting purdah would mean the government could use its “entire publicity machine to brief the media, to skew the battlefield”, while Owen Paterson, a former Cabinet minister, warned that voters would feel the referendum was being “rigged” if normal pre-election restrictions were lifted. | |
| Meanwhile the influential anti-EU Business for Britain pressure group has complained that purdah was essential to ensure the government does not “unduly influence” the outcome of the referendum by “stacking the deck” in favour of a Yes vote. | Meanwhile the influential anti-EU Business for Britain pressure group has complained that purdah was essential to ensure the government does not “unduly influence” the outcome of the referendum by “stacking the deck” in favour of a Yes vote. |
| “Ministers have clearly been poorly advised on the need for purdah rules and should think again before they damage the credibility of the whole process,” said Robert Oxley, campaign director of the group. | “Ministers have clearly been poorly advised on the need for purdah rules and should think again before they damage the credibility of the whole process,” said Robert Oxley, campaign director of the group. |
| Eurosceptics fear that the lifting of normal purdah rules will lead to the government and the European Commission spending millions of taxpayers’ money on pro-EU propoganda. | |
| While spending limits would apply to the official Yes and No campaigns, there would be no such limits on spending by central, local and European governments, under the plans to suspend the same restrictions that were in place for the Scottish independence and AV referendums to prevent the government interfering during the campaign. | While spending limits would apply to the official Yes and No campaigns, there would be no such limits on spending by central, local and European governments, under the plans to suspend the same restrictions that were in place for the Scottish independence and AV referendums to prevent the government interfering during the campaign. |
| Wins a big promotion after increasing her majority in Hastings and Rye despite once describing her constituency as a “bit depressing”. The former banker and financial journalist is considered a moderate Eurosceptic | |
| Former party press officer and now the Witham MP is rewarded for her forceful performances during the election campaign. She is on the right of the party and a Eurosceptic. Ms Patel has called for the return of hanging | |
| Having never been a minister in his 23 years as an MP John Whittingdale’s elevation to the Cabinet is meteoric. But his appointment sends a message to Tory backbenchers that preferment is possible even for those who may have given up hope (and be tempted to rebel) | |
| Getty | |
| Not long ago the former defence minister feared she would not even be an MP but now she has a key role in the Department for Business and the right to attend Cabinet | |
| Rising star tipped as Britain’s first prime minister from an ethnic minority. Son of a bus driver, he grew up in two-bedroom flat in Bristol. After university he joined Deutsche Bank. Parliamentary aide to George Osborne before becoming Treasury minister and Culture Secretary | |
| Thoughtful moderniser who grew up in Middlesbrough where his father and grandfather were milkmen. Was a special adviser before entering Parliament in 2005. In previous ministerial posts he drew up plans to devolve powers to cities | |
| A former aide to George Osborne before becoming an MP in 2010 election. Hancock has had a meteoric ministerial rise |