Isabel Hardman

Flicking through my diary this morning, I came across something I'd scrawled as 'All the Tory ladies' without further explanation. It turned out to be one of those drinks events for people in Parliament who happen to be women, presumably where we all stand around and talk about how great/terrible it is to be a woman, depending on the sort of day we've had. I was reminded of this again by James Kirkup's excellent blog examining the great power of Mumsnet over the British political establishment.

As expected, the backbench Tory campaign for an EU referendum bill started as soon as the Queen's Speech proved not to contain one. The first battle is over an amendment expressing regret which John Baron, who is leading the charge on this, has tabled. The amendment, to the motion welcoming the Queen's Speech, simply reads: 'Respectfully regrets that an EU referendum bill was not included in the gracious speech.' This means that all Tory MPs who want a referendum, but in a different form, such as the mandate referendum that Bernard Jenkin and others have pushed for, can still sign the amendment. Baron tells me that he hasn't decided whether to push the amendment to a vote next week, but it seems there are plenty of Tory backbenchers who are expecting him to do so.

Nadine Dorries has been given the Conservative whip back by Sir George Young, Coffee House can exclusively reveal. Sources in the Tory party tell me that the MP, who was suspended in November for appearing on the reality TV show I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!, has just been told she can now return from exile. This is a huge relief for many Conservative MPs, who have been growing increasingly worried that the continuing absence of the Tory whip was beginning to look vindictive and sexist, and risked pushing the Mid-Bedfordshire MP into the arms of UKIP. As David Davis argued this weekend, Nadine Dorries is a working class woman who grew up in council housing and has been treated badly by the Tory leadership, while Jesse Norman is an Old Etonian rebel who received a promotion.

One of the inevitable consequences of Lord Lawson's announcement that he'd vote 'No' in an EU referendum is that the ideological divides over Europe in the Tory party are starting to open up again. This lunchtime, two Conservative MPs debated one another on the issue, which must be confusing for the electorate, and also shows that it will be very difficult for any Tory leader to unite the party on the issue, even once the referendum has taken place. Margot James, a member of the new Number 10 policy board who also speaks for the pro-European Mainstream Conservatives on trade and investment, sparred with Bernard Jenkin, who isn't just a eurosceptic: he's a eurosceptic who wants a referendum now, rather than a few years' time, and who wants to leave the EU.

The government's decision to delay signing off the Royal Charter for press regulation was initially heralded as a dramatic change of heart, before being re-sold by those involved in the process as just a box-ticking exercise to avoid legal action. Either way, there is a growing noise not just about the rival charters now on offer, but also about the way the government's deal was brought before parliament. Shami Chakrabarti's disquiet over the proposals was widely picked up at the weekend. But there is also a growing unease in the Conservative party about the way Parliament voted on the legislative aspects of the new plan at such short notice. 'We were bounced into it,' one MP told me recently. 'If we'd had time to think about it, there would have been uproar.

John Baron and  Conservative backbench colleagues have been out and about insisting that today's results underline the need for legislation in this parliament for a referendum on Britain's membership of the EU after 2015. But Tories and Lib Dems in Number 10 were clear yesterday that this can't come as a government bill because of the realities of Coalition. But there will be a bill that comes forward. And it looks like it will cause its own almighty row. Those around the Prime Minister have been dropping pretty hefty hints to Tory MPs that though there won't be a government-sponsored bill, if there is 'any other way' of bringing legislation before the Commons, they would be sympathetic. There are two routes by which this can happen.

Even though there has been some reeling back today from the suggestion that David Cameron is on the brink of wowing his party with a bit of legislative red meat on an EU referendum, it won't stop Tory backbenchers trying to force the leadership's position on this matter. The problem is that Conservative MPs are starting to see themselves as psychic agents. They vote for something that their party doesn't want to happen and get called a rebel. A few months later, that rebellion becomes official party policy. One rebel joked to me earlier this week that 'I don't rebel against my government, I just vote two or three weeks ahead of it'.