The major Tory donor Stuart Wheeler is to deliver an ultimatum to David Cameron tonight. If the Tories fail to make two particular pledges in their next manfiesto, he’ll take his money elswhere. And those pledges are:
1. A promise that if the Lisbon Treaty is not law when they come to power, they will hold a referendum on whether to withdraw UK ratification.
2. A promise that if the Lisbon Treaty is law when they come to power, there will be an immediate, massive renegotiation of the UK’s relationship with the EU. If the UK did not get what it wants, the UK should pull out of the Union altogether.
It’s certainly a considerable enough threat. After all, Wheeler was the man who bailed out the Tories with a hefty £5 million donation in 2001, and he’s continued giving since. And there is evidence that Wheeler’s demands aren’t politically toxic. Polling suggests that the public are massively in support of a referendum, and – after the Irish ‘No’ vote – it seems that even Brussels is inclined towards a new, looser relationship with the UK.
But will these factors provoke the Team Cameron into action? I’m not so sure. A key component of the decontamination of the Tory brand has been the “We don’t talk about Europe now” approach. And with the Tories breaking through the 50 percent mark in that MORI poll today, it may take more than even the loss of £millions to convince the Cameroons that they need to change that strategy.
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