Roger Helmer MEP

It is reported that Ken Clarke has appeared in the media, to say that if the Conservatives form a government after the EU Constitution (aka The Lisbon Treaty) is fully ratified, then they will certainly not want to re-open the Treaty.  They will allow it to stand.
 
Compare that with our declared policy that in these circumstances “We will not accept its legitimacy and we will not allow it to stand”, and “We will not let matters rest there”.
 
During the recent euro-election campaign, this was our firm and declared policy, and both our Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague, and our Shadow Europe Minister Mark Francois, were happy to abbreviate that pledge for sound-bite purposes to “Vote Conservative for a referendum”.  This is the basis and the commitment on which I and the other Conservative MEPs were re-elected.
 
It would be charitable to assume that Ken was merely expressing a personal view, rather than seeking unilaterally to re-write Conservative policy.  But even so, he has dismayed most of the party, and offered comfort to those in other parties, especially UKIP, who derided our commitment on the referendum as too vague to count for much.
 
I personally regard our commitment not to accept the Lisbon Treaty as the heart of the Manifesto on which I was elected two weeks ago, and I should regard any retreat from it as a betrayal of our supporters, and of the British people.  This is not the way to restore trust in politics.  I am confident that the Party will indeed do what it says it will do — if I were not, I should not have stood as a Conservative.  If however I am wrong, and at some future stage it becomes clear that it would not, that the Conservative Party intended to resile from the referendum promise, then I for one should have to consider my position very carefully.  Then again, perhaps Ken should consider carefully, too.