It's just like the 90s thanks to Ken

From afar I loved the Tories ripping out each others innards in the Maastricht Treaty battles of the 90s. The colourful suited eccentrics against the grey John Major characterised the trench warfare that was all consuming for the Conservatives.

Thanks to Ken Clarke the Tories are heading straight back there. He let slip today that if Ireland says yes the Tories won't hold a referendum. What's changed is that the centre of gravity of the party is now firmly in the Euro sceptic camp. So I suspect Ken and his Euro sensible colleagues will have more of a difficulty in winning this fight.

How odd it would be if the Tories ended up contesting the next General Election on a platform of no referendum when they, falsely, criticised the Lib Dems on the issue as recently as last week. And especially since the Lib Dems advocated a real (in/out) referendum. How odd.