The veto arguments rumble on

The Times has a very interesting story (£) today on page 17. It claims that David Cameron had agreed to inform Nick Clegg if it appeared that Britain was going to be isolated at last week’s European Council. The significance of this is that it suggests that the Lib Dems believed they would be consulted before the government vetoed anything.

This news emerges after senior Liberal Democrats have privately questioned why their leader did not insist that Cameron only use the veto once he had Clegg’s explicit agreement.

The Times also reports that this negotiating protocol did not envisage a situation where Britain was left in a minority of only a couple of countries. This raises the question of why the embassies in Paris and Berlin failed to provide London with better political intelligence.