LONDON: Tony Blair’s hopes of leading Britain into the single currency before the next general election are in ruins after Labour loyalists admitted on Monday that Downing Street’s battle with the BBC has “derailed” the pro-euro campaign.
As the prime minister intensified his preparations for his appearance before Lord Hutton on Thursday, key supporters of the single currency admitted that a snap euro referendum has become the most high-profile casualty of the inquiry.
Alastair Campbell, the Downing Street director of communications director, admitted to the Hutton inquiry last week that the government had partly lost control of the domestic agenda.
The pro-European former minister, George Foulkes, underlined the scale of the setback when he said that he had abandoned all hope of a pro-euro campaign.
Mr Foulkes, who is regarded as one of the government’s most loyal backbenchers, said: “It has been derailed by other things. I am reminded of Macmillan’s phrase about ‘events dear boy’. We have to accept the reality of that.”
Mr Foulkes insisted the government had not been totally blown off course because voters in his Carrick Cumnock and Doon Valley constituency did not share the media’s obsession with the Hutton inquiry.
Mr Blair will attempt to re-assert his authority when he becomes only the second prime minister to appear before a judicial inquiry on Thursday. Mr Blair, who has been locked in discussions with government lawyers and advisers, is expected to mount two key defences: that he was not responsible for “sexing up” the arms dossier and that the Ministry of Defence was responsible for the “naming strategy” which led to the outing of David Kelly.
Mr Blair will appear after Geoff Hoon, the defence secretary, and John Scarlett, the chairman of the joint intelligence committee. Mr Scarlett, who has offered crucial support to Downing Street by insisting he signed off last September’s arms dossier, is expected to be asked whether he faced political pressure to change the document.
Downing Street aides are hoping that convincing performances this week will begin to restore public trust in Mr Blair, allowing him to regain the initiative on the domestic political agenda in his Labour party conference speech next month. But the task facing him was underlined by the warning that the euro campaign has been blown off course.
Mr Blair had hoped to fire the starting gun in the campaign for a referendum shortly after Gordon Brown announced in June that the government was still keeping the door open to British membership, even though the five tests had not been met. Within days, however, Downing Street was embroiled in its row with the BBC which has since dominated the political agenda.
Ian Taylor, the Conservative chairman of the European movement, said: “All attempts to have a (pro-euro) roadshow have been knocked out of the window. There has been damage to the standing of the government ... which is not the right background for what was always going to be a very challenging campaign.”—Dawn/The Guardian News Service.