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– Ukip demands a referendum and finishes second in the European elections with 16.5 per cent of the vote
Nov – Cameron rules out a referendum because the Lisbon Treaty has been ratified
2011
Oct – Largest post-war parliamentary rebellion on Europe as eighty-one Tories defy a three-line whip to back an in/out referendum on British membership
Dec – Cameron ‘vetoes’ EU fiscal compact treaty. Other twenty-six EU member states agree their own deal
2013
23 Jan – Cameron makes Bloomberg speech, promising to get ‘fundamental reform’ and then call an in/out referendum
5 Jul – James Wharton brings forward Private Member’s Bill to enshrine referendum pledge in law
2014
15 Mar – In article for the Sunday Telegraph, Cameron outlines seven areas where he wants reform of the EU
22 May – Ukip wins European elections with 26.6 per cent of the vote
28 Aug – Douglas Carswell defects from Tories to Ukip
27 Sep – Mark Reckless becomes second defector to Ukip
28 Nov – Cameron lays out demands for a four-year ban on in-work benefits for EU migrants. He ditches plans for an emergency brake on numbers
2015
7 May – General election. Cameron wins first Tory majority since 1992 and vows to hold a referendum before the end of 2017
8 May – Nigel Farage resigns as Ukip leader after failing to win South Thanet, but returns three days later
6 Jun – Steve Baker and David Campbell Bannerman launch Conservatives for Britain
25 Jun – Cameron outlines his broad-brush proposals at EU summit
9 Sep – Tory rebels and Labour MPs unite to defeat government over purdah rules
25 Sep – Nigel Farage announces Ukip will back Arron Banks’s group Leave.EU, originally called ‘The Know’
9 Oct – Vote Leave is officially launched with a video highlighting the £350 million-a-week cost of EU membership
12 Oct – Britain Stronger In Europe launches with Stuart Rose as chairman
9 Nov – Vote Leave activists disrupt Cameron’s speech to the CBI
10 Nov – In a letter to Donald Tusk, Cameron sets out details of the ‘four baskets’ of reforms. In a speech to Chatham House he details plans for a sovereignty lock demanded by Boris Johnson
1 Dec – Alan Johnson launches Labour In For Britain
6 Dec – Vote Leave calls Cameron ‘toxic’ after he claims he will have to campaign to leave if he is ignored by Brussels
8 Dec – MPs overturn an attempt by Labour peers to lower the voting age to sixteen
17–18 Dec – European Council discusses Cameron’s demands and agrees to push for a deal in February
2016
4 Jan – Cameron agrees that ministers will be allowed to campaign for Leave after Chris Grayling and Theresa Villiers threaten to resign
25 Jan – ‘Coup’ attempt to oust Cummings is repelled when other Vote Leave staff threaten to quit
2 Feb – Donald Tusk publishes draft agreement of a ‘new settlement’ between the EU and the UK
3 Feb – Steve Baker says the deal is ‘polishing poo’
18–19 Feb – Cameron secures a new deal in Brussels, including an emergency brake on migrant benefits. George Galloway attends a Grassroots Out rally in Westminster
20 Feb – Cameron holds historic Saturday cabinet meeting. Michael Gove leads a ‘gang of six’ cabinet ministers to back Brexit
21 Feb – Boris Johnson announces that he too will campaign to leave
22 Feb – In a statement to Parliament Cameron says, ‘I have no other agenda than what is best for our country,’ which is widely interpreted as an attack on Johnson’s motives
12 Mar – ITV does a deal with Downing Street and Ukip to secure Cameron and Farage for a debate
15 Mar – Cameron accuses Johnson of ‘literally making it up’ for suggesting the UK should have a Canada-style trade deal with the EU
18 Mar – Iain Duncan Smith resigns as work and pensions secretary over cuts to disability benefits in the budget
31 Mar – Vote Leave submits its designation document to the Electoral Commission with just twenty minutes to go
13 Apr – Electoral Commission designates Vote Leave and Britain Stronger In Europe as the two official campaigns
18 Apr – First Treasury document claims Brexit will cost families £4,300 a year
22 Apr – On a visit to London, President Barack Obama says Britain will be ‘in the back of the queue’ for a trade deal with the US
26 Apr – During a crunch meeting in George Osborne’s office, Tory chiefs on Stronger In rule out ‘blue-on-blue’ attacks on Johnson and Gove or any moves to tackle the immigration issue
5 May – In local elections Labour suffers the worst result by an opposition since 1982
6 May – Farage visits Vote Leave to discuss the ground campaign and the debates
8 May – Michael Gove tells the BBC’s Andrew Marr that Brexit Britain would be outside the European single market
9 May – Cameron warns that Brexit could lead to war in Europe
15 May – Boris Johnson says the EU is pursuing the same superstate as Hitler, using ‘different methods’
17 May – The Sun splashes on sex smears against Boris Johnson’s wife. Michael Heseltine condemns Johnson’s ‘preposterous’ claims
19 May – Eurosceptic rebels force Cameron to accept amendment to the Queen’s Speech on transatlantic trade deal
21 May – Osborne claims house prices will be 18 per cent lower in the event of Brexit
25 May – Ryan Coetzee reports to Stronger In chiefs that the economic message is not working
26 May – Immigration figures are released showing net migration to the UK rose to 333,000 in 2015
27 May – Purdah period begins, preventing the government from publishing further pro-Remain documents. Downing Street staff move to Stronger In HQ
29 May – Gove and Johnson write to Cameron accusing him of ‘corroding public trust’ with his immigration pledges. Andrew Bridgen says Cameron is ‘finished’ as PM
30 May – In the first of a series of ‘alternative government’ pledges, Vote Leave says a Brexit administration would scrap VAT on household energy bills
1 Jun – Gove and Johnson announce that a Brexit government would introduce an Australian-style points system to control immigration
2 Jun – Boris Johnson auctions a cow, describing it as a ‘beautiful milker’
3 Jun – Vote Leave vows to spend £100 million of the £350 million on the NHS instead of Brussels
5 Jun – John Major denounces Boris Johnson for a ‘squalid’, ‘deceitful’ and ‘depressing’ campaign
7 Jun – Deadline for voter registration crashes government website. Cameron calls out Leave’s ‘six lies’ in an emergency press conference
9 Jun – On a visit to Northern Ireland, Tony Blair and John Major warn that Brexit could break up the UK. Amber Rudd attacks Boris Johnson in first