"I'm not. It's a matter on which the big parties are split and have been for a long time. The whole referendum thing was an attempt to glue the Tory party together. It hasn't worked. I think it's an issue where whips will be defied by MPs who believe that the national interest is at stake."
I recall at the time of the vote that Parliament was pro-EU by a majority, so that in itself isn't an issue. The issue is, as you state, whether the parties whip them to vote along party lines, or whether the parties are given a free vote. I think Corbyn would give a free vote on it as he did with Syria. May, however, will be doing her best to whip everyone to her tune.
I said at the time that David Cameron would come out of this unscathed. If they voted to stay in the EU, he'd have been seen as someone who brought the country together. If they voted to leave the EU, he'd have been seen as the guy who gave the UK a choice in the matter. Either way he was going to leave. The problem however was the Vote Leave campaign was never meant to win, it was meant to scare the EU in to giving us better deals in negotiations. You could tell when the votes came in and Johnson gave his speach that it was done in a "Ah, er, well, erm, yeah this wasn't meant to happen". And he promptly took himself out of the running because he knew the resulting months/years would be horrific to govern over. Theresa May, being an opportunist I feel, saw an opening to make herself Thatcher II. This hasn't happened, and what we will all end up with at the beginning of next year is a General Election.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
