Is there anything the Conservative MPs of today like more than a research group? First came the ERG, on Europe; then there was the CRG, on China, and finally the NRG, on the north of England. Though it all started with Brexit, the parliamentary party has since developed a quasi-comical fondness for internal pressure groups, though it is not always clear they are of much use. It is not an entirely new phenomenon, however. According to an academic paper from 1961, backbench Tory MPs have no real factions to speak of as disagreements tend to form among “ad hoc groups”, then, as new issues arise, “the coherence of the former groups dissolves and new alignments appear”. Similarly, a study from 1972 concluded that “allies on one issue either become enemies on the next, or else simply do not feel strongly enough on the next issue to necessarily want to work together”. Or, to slightly paraphrase Richard Rose’s famous words: the Conservative party has tendencies, not factions. As a result, thes...