Manifesto Commitment

When is a Manifesto Commitment not a commitment? When the Voters of another country decide that it isn’t. ZaNu Labour, neutralised the EU issue at the recent election by promising a referendum on the constitution. Now no-one seems to know what the result of a French or Dutch No would be.

Douglas Alexander, the Europe minister, yesterday backed away from his earlier statement to MPs that a referendum would be held regardless of what happens elsewhere in Europe. He was contradicted by Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, who hinted that Britain would not hold a poll if the treaty was rejected by France or other countries.

If Jack Straw is correct, the decision to hold a referendum, far from being a great political risk, has turned out to be a very shrewd move. Not only did he neutralise the issue for the election, he has not dirtied his hands with the issue, which would have lost him a lot of support. So the French could give Our Dear Leader a get out of Jail Card, and his manifesto commitment will prove to be as worthless as we have come to expect.