The Conservative backbench disquiet on Europe has been building over the last few days,
forcing David Cameron to quell the disaffection. He said
earlier this evening:
‘When I go to Brussels I will be there to defend and promote British Interests, and the most important British interest right now is to sort out the problem in the Eurozone that is having the chilling effect on our economy that I have spoken about. That obviously means Eurozone countries doing more together and if they choose to use the European Treaty to do that than obviously there will be British safeguards and British interests and I will be there to protect that. I will not sign a treaty that does not have those safeguards in it, around things like the importance of the single market and financial services. If they choose to go ahead with a separate treaty then clearly that’s not a treaty Britain would be signing or amending, but if they want to use the European institutions then Britain will be insisting on the safeguards and the protections that Britain needs. Britain is a full member of the EU Union, key to that is the single market, we want the single currency crisis solved, but we want to protect and defend British interests at the same time.’
That’s a firm statement of intent, but no more than you would expect from the British prime minister ahead of crunch European talks. Cameron did not explicitly mention repatriating powers, another sign perhaps that his current strategy is to lower expectations and hedge his bets ahead of Friday’s negotiations (and during future discussions about the precise terms of any treaty change). It’s a dangerous game to play with certain Tory factions in mutinous mood.
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