7 Dec 2011

Boris adds to Dave’s eurozone bother

No sooner had Iain Duncan Smith rowed back into line and stopped calling for a referendum in public over the new EU treaty and his ally Owen Paterson has popped up saying exactly the same thing. And, as ever when the PM is in a spot of difficulty, Boris Johnson has popped up being unhelpful on cue. He’s calling for a referendum too.

The PM is ruling that out and is rowing back from the words he used in October at the EU summit press conference about the chances of repatriating powers for Britain from Brussels. The mood amongst some Tory MPs is getting menacing. IDS and Owen Paterson have already been in for a spaghetti bolognaise heart-to-heart with the prime minister over Europe but it doesn’t appear to have done the job.

And I hear that as many as five other ministers have been telling colleagues that they are seeking a meeting with David Cameron to beat the same drum on Europe before he sets off to Brussels tomorrow. I hear that if David Cameron comes back with, to some Tory MPs’ minds, unsatisfactory gains from Brussels he will face a stormy session at his Commons statement on Monday but could also face an Early Day Motion pointing out that more is needed. MPs talk of hoping to gain 100 MPs’ signatures to pile the pressure on the PM and take the numbers higher than the 81 who rebelled in the Commons over Europe referendums in October.

The PM looks like disappointing them. He’s hopeful of getting more from the EU partners on transparency on eurozone meetings and commitments to make sure there is no single market within the single market that forms, disadvantaging British firms. But he’s also talking about trying to get something that halts what he and fellow Tories see as the relentless Brussels regulatory assault on the City. There’s little appetite for that kind of conversation in Brussels and getting something substantial is going to be difficult. It also won’t satisfy his backbenchers … though it could calm some of them down a bit.

A footnote from the US … European politicians make much of how they respect the independence of the ECB and never make inappropriate contact with it. The Washington Post reveals that US officials have sometimes been used as intermediaries for sensitive communications.

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