David Cameron arrives in Brussels on Thursday night for a European summit, buffeted by the conflicting pressures of a Eurosceptic cabinet rebellion over an EU referendum and increasing isolation in key capitals across Europe.
Tory MPs on the right met on Wednesday night to discuss tactics after the Eurosceptic Northern Ireland secretary, Owen Paterson, challenged Downing Street by declaring that a revision of the Lisbon treaty would have to be put to the British people in a referendum.
Paterson's call, echoed by London's mayor, Boris Johnson, runs counter to a law passed in July which says that a referendum will be held only if significant UK powers are transferred to the EU. Downing Street says that any agreement at the crucial two-day EU summit, designed to save the single currency from collapse, will not involve the transfer of UK powers.
Amid irritation with the Northern Ireland secretary in No 10, Paterson's allies in the three main groups on the Tory right – the No Turning Back Group, the 92 Group, and the Cornerstone Group – held a joint meeting where they said Cameron must achieve "clear gains" at the EU summit.
"We are on manoeuvres," one senior figure said. It became clear that Iain Duncan Smith, the former Tory leader, had approved the intervention by Paterson, a longstanding ally. In what was described as a co-ordinated move, following a call by Duncan Smith on Sunday for a referendum, Paterson told the Spectator: "If there was a major fundamental change in our relationship, emerging from the creation of a new bloc which would be effectively a new country from which we were excluded, then I think inevitably there would be huge pressure for a referendum."
The prime minister will join the EU's 26 other leaders in Brussels as they examine proposals to revise the Lisbon treaty to ensure that joint fiscal rules for the eurozone are placed on a legal footing. Cameron, who said he was prepared to veto any treaty revision if British demands were not met, has infuriated senior figures in Brussels, Paris and Berlin with what are regarded as hardball tactics. » | Nicholas Watt and Ian Traynor in Brussels | Wednesday, December 07, 2011
