Zac Goldsmith recently wrote in the Spectator that it was his father – not the Labour party – who had stopped Britain from joining the euro. The Conservative MP claimed his dad Sir James Goldsmith was to thank, after his Referendum party battled to ‘ensure that Britain would never join the euro without the consent of the people’.
One man who appears to disagree, however, is former Prime Minister Sir John Major. Major has written a letter in this week’s Spectator arguing that Goldsmith did not have any effect on government policy:
‘Much as I admire filial loyalty, I cannot allow Zac Goldsmith’s article about his father to go uncorrected. Sir James Goldsmith was a formidable campaigner against the European Union and the euro currency, but at no point did he alter government policy. Zac Goldsmith suggests that I did not offer a referendum on membership of the euro currency out of conviction. This is wrong.’
Major goes on to say that Goldsmith actually made it trickier for the government to say no to the euro. ‘If anything, Sir James made the decision process more difficult, since no one in Cabinet wished to appear to be influenced,’ he writes.
That’s not the only bone Major has to pick with the Goldsmith family. He goes onto argue that Zac’s claim that he offered James Goldsmith a peerage is false. ‘At no time did I make such an offer; nor did I authorise anyone else to make such an offer on my behalf,’ Major says.
The Conservative politician has at least managed to pick out some of the things he does credit Sir James with:
‘Sir James was not, however, without influence. The Referendum party did serious damage to the electoral prospects of the Conservative party, and helped usher in 13 years of Labour government.’
Major adds that he does not ‘wish to reopen old sores’. Perish the thought.
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