BCC director general John Longworth resigns

Op-ed: The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) agreed that its delegates would not promote either side of the Britain is better in or out of the European Union campaigns leading to one man, John Longworth, who apparently broke those rules being suspended.

The campaigns to persuade British voters to either opt to stay in the EU or leave have three months to run but already the knives are out.

"John Longworth, the Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), backed a 'Brexit' from Brussels during a TV interview on Thursday. He said: "With the reforms that we have received so far, the UK would be better off taking a decision to leave the European Union."

According to the Financial Times that vocal opinion led to his suspension from the BCC group for breaching its official stance of neutrality.

If you vow to be neutral you must all sing from the same song sheet and after Longworth's suspension others better make sure they obey BCC guidelines.

Checking out the BCC website for more information on Mr Longworth Sunday he was still listed as the group's Director General. His bio on that site begins "John Longworth was appointed Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce in September 2011. Over the course of his career, John has done business on every continent and has had Executive Board positions at Asda Group Ltd and Asda Financial Services Ltd and the Operating Board of Tesco Stores Ltd and the CWS Ltd."

The bio continues with Longworth's busy and extensive business career and goes on to praise his talents. Those same talents may now be forgotten, at least in the short-term, as he is pushed aside for sharing his opinion.

Monday after he resigned the link is broken and Mr Longworth has vanished from BCC website.

The Express reports Saturday "Ukip MP Douglas Carswell [a former Tory MP who jumped ship and joined Ukip in 2015] reacted with fury to the reports [of Longworth's suspension] saying: "This is an outrageous decision.

"It shows that we are not just dealing with Project Fear, the Establishment is also prepared to bully and intimidate people to try to silence them." He added: "I hope now that David Cameron will distance himself from this and make it clear that this sort of action is unacceptable"."

Monday Mr Longworth is toast. John Longworth resigns as commerce boss over Brexit debate reports the Guardian.

The Conservative party made an EU in or out referendum pledge part of their 2015 election manifesto in order to win back some supporters who had fled to Ukip.

But Cameron was unable to unite the Tories on Britain's EU membership so instead has allowed the party a free run which is quickly morphing into various right-wing campaigns for BRexit or BRemain.

As the Tory party struggles to hold it together enemies and allies are made but post-EU referendum how will these people be able to work as one and govern the country?

Related reading: Lord Tebbit says Cameron will have to quit if UK leaves EU

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