Today’s Times (£) cites a figure of “at least nine”.
Tim Montgomerie has previously given one of eight.
I have named four: Iain Duncan Smith, Michael Gove, Chris Grayling and Philip Hammond. The Times also flags up Oliver Letwin.
Sajid Javid has said that if the British people vote to leave the EU, then “that isn’t something that I’d be afraid of, I’d embrace the opportunities that would create.”.
Other names are less clear-cut. Theresa Villiers has always been a committed Euro-sceptic. Michael Fallon and Liz Truss, fellow right-wing Cabinet Ministers, are also keeping their counsel.
Theresa May leans towards leaving the ECHR, but hasn’t been drawn on the EU. Grayling is of course the author of the Conservative ECHR policy, which takes the Conservatives to the brink of leaving.
These dispositions of course relate to the status quo. They tell us little about where those who hold them would stand in the event of a David Cameron-led renegotiation (even a modest one).
One Cabinet member at least clearly wants in principle the freedom to campaign against its outcome while also remaining in the Cabinet, since the Independent as well as the Times has been briefed.
My take is that Duncan Smith and Grayling would want out in the event of anything other than a major renegotiation – which itself is unlikely unless the EU divides unto an inner ring of Euro members and a looser arrangement of countries outside it.