Tories CUT UP their membership cards as party splits over face masks... while Michael Gove pops to Pret without wearing one despite saying it's 'basic good manners' to do so - before they become mandatory from July 24

• The hashtag #NoMasks and the word 'muzzles' were both trending on Twitter
• Conservative Party members have been cutting up their membership cards
• Michael Gove has said that masks in shops should only be a matter of 'courtesy' 

Conservative Party members have been cutting up their membership cards in protest at Boris Johnson's move to make face masks mandatory in shops as Michael Gove shunned them while buying breakfast today.

The hashtag #NoMasks and the word 'muzzles' were both trending on Twitter, while several Tory supporters posted pictures of chopped-up cards, cancelled registrations or deleting their direct debits. 

Many said the order - which will come into effect from July 24 and carries a maximum fine of £100 for non-compliance - is incompatible with the party's libertarian values. Others claimed there is insufficient evidence to suggest that the measure has meaningful health benefits.

Michael Gove hinted he agreed with them on Sunday  by saying that masks in shops should be a matter of 'courtesy' and 'common sense' rather than required.

Mr Gove added it was 'basic good manners' to wear masks in shops but was pictured picking up breakfast in a Westminster Pret a Manger without one this morning. Minutes later Trade Secretary Liz Truss arrived at the same branch wearing a blue face covering similar to the one worn by the Prime Minister yesterday.  

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Dominey Jenner with her chopped up Conservative membership card amid anger of Boris Johnson's plans to make face masks compulsory in shops

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Others have taken to social media to share their anger and decision to cancel their Tory membership saying its leader has gone too far

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Michael Gove didn't wear a mask in Pret this morning after causing chaos in Downing Street by refusing to say the Dominey Jenner, 42, a stay-at-home mother and former teacher from Wimbledon, south-west London, told the PA news agency that she had been 'quite sceptical about the lockdown' but said the face mask rules are the 'final straw'.

How the government's line on face coverings has changed over the months 

March 12: Deputy chief medical officer Dr Jenny Harries: 'For the average member of the public walking down a street, it is not a good idea… in fact, you can actually trap the virus in the mask and start breathing it in.'

April 16: Chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty said: 'The evidence is weak, but the evidence of a small effect is there under certain circumstances.'

April 21: Revealed in meeting minutes a month later, Sage advised: 'On balance, there is enough evidence to support recommendation of community use of cloth face masks, for short periods in enclosed spaces, where social distancing is not possible.'

April 23: Dr Jenny Harries said there could be 'a very, very small potential beneficial effect in some enclosed environments'.

April 24: Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: 'On masks, as more information comes through, the science is constantly evolving and we always bear in mind that science and then take the decision. As of today, the government position is unchanged.'

April 30: Boris Johnson said: 'I do think that face coverings will be useful, both for epidemiological reasons, but also for giving people confidence that they can go back to work.'

May 20: Researchers in Hong Kong found face masks reduced infection by up to 75 per cent. 

June 4: Transport Secretary Grant Shapps announced that face coverings will be mandatory on public transport from June 15. He said: 'With more people using transport the evidence suggests wearing face coverings offers some - albeit limited - protection against the spread for the virus.'

June 5: Health Secretary Matt Hancock revealed plans to make face coverings compulsory in hospitals for all staff, visitors and outpatients from June 15, but a furious NHS boss said the decision was made 'without any notice or consultation'. Meanwhile, Grant Shapps said masks would not be required in other settings such as shops because people spend little time in close proximity.

June 12: German study suggests making face masks compulsory could slow the spread of Covid-19 by as much as 40 per cent.

July 10: The PM says the government 'needs to be stricter in insisting people wear face coverings in confined spaces'. A government source later briefs that it is a 'fair assumption' that masks will become mandatory in shops and other indoor settings within a few weeks.

July 12: Michael Gove says masks will not be compulsory in shops in England, insisting it is best to 'trust' the public and wearing a face covering is a matter of 'good manners'.

July 13:  Justice Secretary Robert Buckland made it worse that 'perhaps' masks should be mandatory., Hours later Mr Johnson was forced to steps and says an announcement will be made 'in the coming days' on upgrading the advice on using face coverings. 

July 14: George Eustace says that shops will have to play their part to enforce the wearing of masks and refuses to rule out masks being mandatory in offices.

'If you look at the statistics regarding the cases and the death rate, which is plummeting ... why now you would bring in mandatory face masks?

'The other strand for me is the libertarian strand. I think people should be trusted, I think we should be given a choice.

'I'm really angry at how the Government has invoked fear in its population to control people - I think that is the wrong way to manage a population and to govern.'

Mrs Jenner said she and her family have 'really suffered over lockdown', adding that her mother's breast cancer had not been picked up and has now metastasised, meaning she may now only have a 'few years' to live.

She added: 'I have an 11-year-old girl. I don't want to put a face mask on my child. I'm sure that covering your mouth and nose is not a good idea, it's part of our respiratory system. Instinctively, it can't be a good thing.'

Ahead of Health Secretary Matt Hancock's announcement of the new measure, a No 10 spokesman cited 'growing evidence that wearing a face covering in an enclosed space helps protect individuals and those around them from coronavirus'.

A recent modelling study from the Universities of Cambridge and Greenwich found that the widespread use of face masks keeps the coronavirus reproduction number below 1.0.

Researchers found that even home-made masks with limited effectiveness can dramatically reduce transmission rates if worn by enough people, regardless of whether they show symptoms.

However, Alistair Haimes, a data analyst and owner of a private investment company, said he has not seen any evidence which convinced him that face masks would have a meaningful impact on transmission of the virus.

'All it is, it's very transparently that they think that people will be more confident to go back to shops and offices if they wear them than if they don't.

'I think people should be free to wear them. I just object to being told what to do.'

Mr Haimes said he is leaving the Conservatives just a few months after joining, having previously voted for a number of political parties.

'People are trying to see the dividing lines where they aren't. People are seeing it as Brexiteer Tories who are against masks.

'I voted for Tony Blair. I voted Remain. I'm not representative of my tribe, as it were,' he told PA.

Both Mr Haimes and Mrs Jenner were critical of the Government's handling of the coronavirus outbreak.

'To be honest, the camel's back was breaking anyway. I'm in slight despair that I just don't think it can be managed at any point worse than they have done,' Mr Haimes said.

'(Mr Johnson) has made some big mistakes,' Mrs Jenner said. 'He's not communicated a vision. It went from squashing the sombrero and saving the NHS, to the R number, which seems to have disappeared from everyone's vocabulary.

'I actually don't know what he's seeking to achieve.'

She added that the Government's move has left her politically homeless.

'This is the dilemma, I really have no idea now. I really hope that some people create a new party. I've got my eyes on Nigel Farage and his Reform Party, possibly, but I haven't done much research on what they stand for.

'I probably brought down the average mean age of the Conservative Party massively and I'm also female, so I think I was a bit of an asset to them in some ways and they've totally lost me.'

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Shoppers who fail to comply risk fines of £100 under the plans to stop a second wave of coronavirus. Pictured: Prime Minister Boris Johnson wearing a face mask during the Coronavirus while campaigning in his Uxbridge constituency

Mr Johnson's decision to make face masks mandatory in shops descended into chaos and confusion today as businesses called the plan 'utterly ludicrous' and police said they will find it 'impossible' to hand out £100 fines to those flouting the rules from July 24.

Mr Johnson's own ministers are also openly split on the issue with the Prime Minister accused of confusing millions of Britons by forcing them to wear face coverings in confined spaces from next week despite his deputy chief medical officer Jenny Harries cautioning at the start of lockdown that wearing one 'is not a good idea for the public'.

Boris Johnson and other senior ministers have been wrestling to balance their instinctive dislike for 'nanny state' moves with rules to ensure public safety - and Michael Gove sparked fresh confusion by saying on Sunday that masks in shops should be a matter of 'courtesy' and 'common sense' rather than required.

Mr Gove added it was 'basic good manners' to wear masks in shops but was pictured picking up breakfast in a Westminster Pret a Manger without one this morning. Minutes later Trade Secretary Liz Truss arrived at the same branch wearing a blue face covering similar to the one worn by the Prime Minister yesterday. 

The confusing message from Downing Street was also increased by Environment Secretary George Eustice, who refused to rule out the mandatory use of face coverings being extended to offices and other workplaces during a BBC interview this morning. 

MailOnline has been inundated with emails from business owners left perplexed and angry at the face masks diktat who fear that this will kill off their businesses as it was revealed that UK faces the biggest peacetime deficit in history with the risk of four million people out of work by next year - and the economy might not recover until 2025. 

Jools Cardozo, who runs Farringdon and Forbes Home Interiors in Leamington Spa, said: 'Our high streets are near deserted, businesses are being forced to close and now the government want to tighten that last nail in the coffin by imposing that all shoppers wear face masks! How utterly ludicrous. I am all for the safety of my staff and customers but imposing this on a random future date screams of desperation'.

Susan Carlin, who runs a corner shop, said: 'I doubt many of our customers will be willing to wear one - very very few do - and the staff will not be comfortable asking customers to wear one. But if we let in larger numbers without masks it makes mockery of the requirement'. She added: 'We had a good system in 2 metre social distancing which the customers adapted well and willingly to and we work behind a screen. I believe this is a totally unnecessary and an unenforceable rule which will cause huge discomfort for my staff'.

Moshe Schmahl, who works at Nat Jacobs Fishmongers in north London, said: 'There is essential communication going back and forth between the monger and the customer. With face masks on, it is extremely difficult to understand the other person. Let's hope the government will provide some clarifications and exemptions'.