Those cracking jokes about bears visiting the woods following Ken Clarke’s latest warning about the dangers of Britain leaving the EU miss the point. The former Chancellor and Minister without Portfolio is firstly echoing the stance of his boss, rather than briefing against him, and is secondly continuing to plug away at the case for ‘In’ which has struggled to gain as much momentum and noise as that for leaving. The Europhile faction of the Conservative party has been very poor at organising itself and going on the attack thus far.
Clarke uses yesterday’s official opening of talks on the EU/US bilateral trade deal to warn in today’s Telegraph that Britain would not have the same prospects for global trade were it outside the European Union. He writes:
‘For, irony of ironies, it is of course the EU that is making deals with America and Canada possible. it should come as no surprise that President Obama’s officials have commented that they would have ‘very little appetite’ for a deal with the British alone.’
Of equal significance is the return of WWTD? which has fallen a little quiet since Margaret Thatcher’s funeral, but was never going to quite go away. Clarke will infuriate some of his colleagues by arguing that remaining in the EU is the ‘Thatcherite’ option (Charles Moore wrote that ‘it became her view’ that Britain should leave). He does not pretend that the current set up is ideal, preferring instead to back David Cameron’s desire for reform. Clarke and his europhile colleagues will have to make a great deal more noise if they are to get the case for staying across to voters in the next few years, especially if the Prime Minister returns – as many fear he will – with a less impressive renegotiated relationship than originally hoped.
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