Loss of Trust in Blair Stalls Poll on Euro,
Single Currency Campaign in Disarray
By Toby Helm

The Government's preoccupation with survival and trust in Tony Blair have finally killed off any hope of a referendum before the next election on joining the single currency, pro-euro MPs said last night.

Ardent campaigners for economic union admit that the controversy surrounding the Hutton Inquiry into Dr. David Kelly's death means that there is now no chance of the Prime Minister winning an early vote.

This acceptance of defeat by key pro-euro figures is a severe setback for Mr Blair, who has been anxious to keep alive hopes of a referendum next year.

The realisation that his euro strategy has been blown off course, this time by the Iraq controversy, is likely to add to frustration in the Labour Party over the Government's inability to focus on domestic matters, including vital reform of public services.

In a further blow to Mr Blair, who gives evidence to the Hutton Inquiry on Thursday, it emerged that the main campaigner group for the euro, Britain in Europe (BiE) is in danger of disintegrating as staff leave in frustration at lack of progress and businesses withhold money until a referendum is called.

Simon Buckby, BiE.s campaign director, has become disillusioned at the failure to name a date for a vote. Informed sources said he would remain in charge to oversee some form of "transition" for BiE , which was set up to prepare for, and fight a referendum. After that he would almost certainly leave.

George Foulkes, a Labour MP and member of BiE's advisory board, said that any chance of winning an early euro poll had disappeared. "What is important now is that we have a referendum when we think we can win one," he said.

Ian Taylor, a pro-euro Tory MP also on the BiE board, said it was unrealistic to contemplate an early vote.

"Earlier in the summer they were holding to the line that we could have a referendum in this Parliament. Then they ran into Hutton. Any chance there may have been has gone until the next Parliament."

Gordon Brown announced in Parliament in June that Britain had not passed the Treasury's five tests for membership of the euro-zone, but said he would re-examine the case for entry in his Budget next spring.

Mr Blair and the Chancellor joined forces at a press conference, promising to throw all their energies into a nationwide campaign to build a pro-European consensus. But the crisis over Dr. Kelly's death has disrupted Government strategies to such an extent that few preparations for a European campaign have been made. Downing Street officials have concentrated on little else but the Hutton Inquiry for the past month.
The Daily Telegraph, 26th August, 2003

Further Resources
Ten Minutes to Midnight by Phillip Day
Vigilance by Ashley Mote
Available at www.credence.org

Death of a Euro salesman

Pity the honest Europhiles. For years, supporters of the single currency have clung to the hope that they could turn public opinion around, not so much through facts and figures, as through having more plausible advocates on their side. This is more or less what happened in the 1975 referendum when voters, presented with Enoch Powell, Ian Paisley and Tony Benn on one side, and with every main stream political leader on the other, chose to believe the moderates. And it was what was supposed to happen again. The polls might indicate a two to one majority for keeping the pound, but euro-enthusiasts felt that they had yet to deploy their most powerful weapon: Tony Blair.

For a longtime the Prime Minister prevaricated, reassuring them that he would take the lead when the time was right, but always finding some more pressing concern. Then, six months ago, he announced that he and Gordon Brown would lead a national campaign to sell the euro. Yet, as if in a stage tragedy, he was just too late. The moment when he finally decided to act was the moment when the country stopped believing him. Numerous opinion polls show faith in Mr Blair at a record low, and the Tories enjoying their first lead in 11 years. The Prime Ministers assurance that the euro is in our interests no longer weighs with people: nor is the Conservative leader's instance to the contrary any longer counter-productive.

On one level, it is Dr David Kelly who has made the euro referendum unthinkable. Yet, as is often the case in politics, one dramatic event has served to crystallise a number of concerns that people had about their government. It is ironic that Mr Blair should find himself in such a situation after fighting a just war in which he displayed a courage which has usually been absent in the handling of the euro.

What seems to be happening is that the public no longer gives New Labour that most precarious quality in politics, the benefit of the doubt. Labour might have had an opportunity to ram through a euro referendum early in the last parliament; that opportunity is most unlikely to come again. This is not just our opinion: it is also the opinion of Britain in Europe, who arguable have more at stake in this matter than anyone else. As we report, the pro-europe group is crumbling, its staff demoralised, its activities on hold, its director contemplating resignation. Yet sincere euro fanatics need not despair entirely, for the proposed European constitution would make the question of euro membership largely redundant. Under its term, Brussels would "coordinate the economic and employment policies of the member states", gaining control of everything from maximum working hours to permissible budget deficits. In such circumstances, the right to mint our own currency would be like Scotland's right to print its own bank notes today: symbolically important, but no guarantee of economic independence. Perhaps Mr Blair is playing a longer game than we think.