The Haribo they were eating all night clearly worked: European leaders have just agreed on the first budget cut since the EU’s formation. All credit to David Cameron for getting more than even he’d imagined was possible. But what does the Prime Minister do next?
Well, he could do what he did after his historic EU speech, which is to make a rather paltry attempt at capitalising on the excellent mood in the Conservative party by organising an afternoon Commons debate with William Hague congratulating his leader on being so eurosceptic and poking fun at Labour. Apart from that debate, which barely made an impression within the parliamentary estate, let alone with voters, the Downing Street machine retreated again, job done, leaving Tory MPs to start fighting over gay marriage and which unlikely backbencher they could line up to replace Cameron or how they could eject George Osborne. A month or so ago, it was difficult to get through even the briefest of conversations with a Tory MP without the words ‘Europe’ or ‘referendum’ cropping up.
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