In 1997 he said: “Divisions within governments of both parties, and hence indecision, have made British policy towards Europe, over many years, inconsistent and unclear”. His audience should ask in what respects this Government is different. In Britain
Financial TimesThe only way for Mr Blair and Mr Brown to demonstrate credibly that they have moved from a passive ambition to join EMU to an active desire to achieve entry will be to commit the Government to removing the barriers they think remain within a specified timescale … These devices would only leave the impression that what the Prime Minister has long said was an “economic decision” about an “economic union” was in the process of mutating into something else. If a cartographical metaphor is required, then what the Chancellor should produce is an “ordnance survey” map, not a road-map.

He should lay out the territory with absolute candour, point out all the landmarks of significance, be specific about the complexity of the contours and not commit himself to any journey until, at least, the economic time is right.Daily MailScrapping the pound is not a matter of “if” but “when”. Oh yes, there’s the small detail that the final decision on whether to join the single currency rests with the British public, whose hostility to the idea of handing control over our economic destiny to an unelectable and unaccountable European Central Bank grows by the day … The Prime Minister [has] suggested that although the electorate is against joining the euro he is convinced he is right and is determined to sign us up – just as he insisted on war against Iraq. Such patronising arrogance is breathtaking.The Daily TelegraphThere was never really any doubt about it.

Today, the Chancellor of the Exchequer will confirm what the City has been saying all along: that Britain should keep the pound. Our economy remains cyclically and structurally divergent from the eurozone; and that divergence, if anything, is growing. Britain is benefiting from a “Baghdad bounce” while the eurozone seems set for yet more hard times. Germany is floundering in its second recession in two years, with unemployment heading towards five million. Meanwhile, Portugal and Ireland risk overheating because they are unable to raise interest rates.The GuardianLabour’s fatal flaw: Blair and Brown are still rivals. For the most part, the relationship between Mr Blair and Mr Brown has been one of great reward for Labour, and for both men personally But it is a relationship with hamartia, a fatal flaw. Both men contribute to that: Mr Brown by his ceaseless annexation of control within the government, and Mr Blair by his limitless reluctance to make a stand against it.