Only a Lib Dem could get it this wrong

Sir Menzies Campbell's call for a referendum on Britain's membership of the EU is a desperate bid to preserve party unity on the eve of what may be his last conference as Lib Dem leader. No less than Harold Wilson in 1974-5, he seeks to avert a party split by backing a plebiscite. The trouble is that the question Ming wants to pose - In or Out - is a complete irrelevance (except for Ukip voters). The controversy over the re-heated EU Constitution, now stripped of grandiose language but substantially the same as it was in 2004, has nothing whatsoever to do with membership of Europe. It is about trust and Labour's unambiguous pledge in its 2005 manifesto to hold a referendum on the Constitutional Treaty (or Reform Treaty as it is now relabelled after the deal struck this year). Either the Government honours that pledge or it does not. It is a wearyingly familiar ploy - the hysterical insinuation that every Eurosceptic really wants to get out of the EU entirely. Does that include Gordon Brown who had the good sense to keep us out of the euro? Or John Major who negotiated the Maastricht opt outs? In fact, the argument should not even be about Euroscepticism versus integrationism, but about political honour and transparency. A promise is a promise, or ought to be. Sir Ming has merely confused a very simple issue of principle, as only Lib Dems can. Pitiful stuff from a third-rate party leader already in the departure lounge.