Routed Conservative ranks remain bitterly divided over Europe

Date: 11/12/1997

By Rory Watson

THE previous UK Conservative government finally foundered in May on the rock of the European Union, and the prospect of closer integration with the continent still haunts and divides the Tory party.

If anything, the party's opposition to the Union has continued to grow ever since and is now in inverse proportion to its standing with the British electorate.

Under their new leader, the youthful William Hague, the Tories have effectively ruled out any British participation in the single currency for at least ten years and intend to vote against the Amsterdam Treaty because it opens the door to UK participation in the social chapter.

“With a single currency, we might all have to pay the price with high interest rates and rising unemployment. What is at stake is the power of a British government to run the British economy in the interests of British businesses and the British people,” said Hague, justifying his opposition to the euro.

In marked contrast, Labour is pushing for early ratification of the treaty, is committed in principle to the euro and finds itself in the mainstream of much continental political thinking with its support for more legislative powers for the European Parliament and for EU social, employment and environmental initiatives.

The turn around in political allegiances in less than 25 years could hardly be more marked. In 1972, it was a Conservative government under the then Prime Minister Edward Heath which took the historic decision to join the Union and Labour which was opposed on the grounds that the whole set-up was merely a capitalist club.

Now one of UK Prime Minister Tony Blair's chief mentors is the former European Commission President and leading Liberal Democrat Lord Jenkins. Labour is nurturing close links with continental politicians - some cabinet members are even taking French lessons as part of a determined effort to strengthen the entente cordiale with Paris - and there is every appearance of well-established communication channels between the government and the European Commission.

In contrast, the former Conservative minister and now External Trade Commissioner Sir Leon Brittan appears to be a voice in the wilderness. Late last month, he once again tried to stem the tide of Euroscepticism in his own party, insisting that the Union was turning towards Conservative objectives by “enshrining the principles of sound public finance through the single currency”.

He also warned, after a couple of disastrous by-election results for the party, that there was no domestic political mileage to be gained by “trying to distinguish the Conservative Party from the Labour Party by taking a clear-cut Eurosceptic line”.

Some of Brittan's pro-European Tory colleagues in the UK have gone even further. Former government Minister Ian Taylor resigned from his post as Northern Ireland spokesman in protest at the hardening in tone on the Union, and moderate MP Peter Temple-Morris left the party last month after being accused by Hague of disloyalty.

Former Deputy Prime Minister Michael Heseltine has openly defied his new leader by confirming that he would campaign for British entry into a single currency. “Let's be absolutely clear. There is going to be a single currency. Short of nuclear war or some event on that scale, the Europeans are going to do it. The only issue is when Britain joins, because join we will,” he said, explaining his stance.

He has been joined by former Finance Minister Kenneth Clarke, who has announced that he will campaign publicly for UK participation in the euro in any future referendum.

That pledge has raised the intriguing prospect of Clarke crossing swords with his immediate Tory predecessor Norman Lamont, who presided over the UK's embarrassing departure from the Exchange Rate Mechanism, and who firmly believes “the Tories will be utterly irrelevant if they do not wholeheartedly oppose a single currency”.

The divisions in the Tory ranks over the Union show no signs of abating and are likely to be a source of unwanted friction between Conservative MEPs and their colleagues in the European Parliament's Christian Democratic group.