DAVID Cameron has now told Parliament why he used his veto at the EU summit meeting and he has also given an account of himself to the Conservative MPs 1922 Committee. When will he agree to be interviewed on TV or radio so that the British public can make their own judgement? Despite the many distracting side-issues there remain two central questions requiring fuller answers than they have yet had.
The first is why, if Mr Cameron had serious misgivings about the French-German proposals on the table in Brussels, did he not simply say, as the Swedish Prime Minister did, that he reserved his position until having further consultations with his Cabinet colleagues at home? This would have been much less confrontational and avoided the recriminations in Europe that still continue.
Perhaps Mr Cameron preferred to commit himself and Britain while he had the chance and before other opinions, for instance those of the Liberal Democrats, could be brought to bear on the issue. The second outstanding question, therefore, is whether Mr Cameron misled his coalition colleague Nick Clegg by failing to reveal his full hand in their preliminary discussions. This is the impression Mr Clegg has given in his most recent statements. Tony Blair abused the principle of collective Cabinet decision over Iraq and it seems that Mr Cameron may have done so over the EU.
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