RE: Order order order order order... LOL10 Aug 2021 00:25
2nd
Then the Danes rejected Maastricht and everything changed. The government decided to postpone the Bill. Immediately, nearly 50 newly-emboldened Conservative MPs signed the “Fresh Start” motion calling for renegotiation. From that moment, the passage of the Bill was delayed by rebellions and fraught with bitter argument and recrimination.
Perhaps the worst moment was when the government was defeated on the final amendment. I voted against the government that evening in the hope they would grant a referendum. As I emerged out of the lobby, I was met by a wall of angry colleagues, some of them ministers, shouting and hurling abuse, in one case spitting on the floor in front of me.
Although an uneasy peace descended after the treaty was ratified, I don’t think the party ever settled. Animosities often flared up. From Maastricht on, the public saw the party as split on Europe – which no doubt helped Tony Blair achieve his three terms in power. The irony is that now we have had the referendum, the Conservative Party is remarkably united. Indeed it is Labour which is split, while the people of Italy, Greece, Austria, Holland, Germany and France are in turn beginning to question the purpose of the EU project, with its job-destroying single currency at its heart