Imagine, just imagine, that Cameron pulled this one off. Imagine that we
arrived at a point where the two options on a ballot paper were a
renegotiated settlement acceptable to his lot, and outright withdrawal.
It
would unite the Left on the EU like nothing since a section of it first
inexplicably decided that "Europe" was a bulwark against Thatcherism (several
years later, Thatcher herself even more oddly seemed to begin to agree
with them), much as there have always been a few people on the Old Right who
have thought of it as a bulwark against Americanism.
For if the
only alternative were whatever could be sold to the remains of the
Conservative Party, then the only viable option would be whatever else
were on offer. Namely, withdrawal.
As would then be advocated in
the strongest possible terms by the whole of the Left. It would be the
Thatcherites who would be campaigning to stay in. Well, of course. It was
ever thus.
Ed Miliband:
ReplyDelete"Our position is no: we don't want an in-out referendum."
Let's clear this up-Are you calling your leader a liar?
Tell us what you really think, Lindsay.
No, I am calling the BBC a liar, for replaying over and over again half a clip of David Cameron in order to distort the meaning of the reply (which in any case is not his job) by Ed Miliband.
ReplyDeleteThis was all corrected within an hour by Douglas Alexander on The World at One. But don't try and tell the Beeb that.
Anyway, as I have already explained, there is no need for a referendum. It would only deliver a Yes vote, anyway. What is needed is legislation.
But a referendum would unite the Left like nothing since well, I'm not entirely sure what, exactly. Two options, whatever David Cameron had managed to "renegotiate", or out. No contest. UKIP, on the other hand...