The Battle for Britain was rejoined yesterday as two former Tory ministers, Mr Michael Heseltine and Mr Kenneth Clarke, joined Mr Tony Blair in promising a new "patriotic cause" for "Britain in Europe" - while the Conservative leader, Mr William Hague, took his last-ditch stand for sterling to the readers of the Sun.
"Once in each generation the case for Britain in Europe needs to be remade, from first principles. The time for this generation is now," declared Mr Blair at the launch of the long-awaited cross-party campaign to highlight the advantages of Britain's membership of the European Union. And a star-studded audience, which included a former Conservative prime minister, Sir Edward Heath, the new Northern Ireland Secretary, Mr Peter Mandelson, and Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson heard Mr Heseltine affirm: "For Britain's sake, I am a European."
But Mr Hague launched a preemptive strike at his former colleagues, firing the opening shots in the battle for what he again called "an Independent Britain", and echoing Kitchener's call-up. "To every Sun reader who loves their country, to every Sun reader who's worried that a European superstate is going to take it away from you, to every Sun reader who wants to keep the Pound, my message to you is - Your Country Needs You," declared Mr Hague.
Maintaining the same warlike theme, Mr Heseltine told his audience that the "shared sovereignty" of the NATO alliance had maintained peace and freedom in Europe for 50 years. "By the shared sovereignty of the European Union we have enjoyed prosperity and well-being on a scale without precedent," he said.
Speaking alongside Mr Blair and the Liberal Democrat leader, Mr Charles Kennedy, as well as the Chancellor, Mr Gordon Brown, and the Foreign Secretary, Mr Robin Cook, Mr Heseltine said Conservative leaders since the war had taken Britain deeper into Europe. "I stand on this platform with Ken Clarke because all our lives we have shared that same belief in a combination of practical, national self-interest with political vision which has guided our party for half a century."
While Mr Blair repeated his government's "prepare and decide" policy on British membership of the single currency, Mr Hague described yesterday's "Britain in Europe" launch as "the starting gun for the campaign to abolish the pound". The issue is set to dominate much of the British political debate up to the next election, and to the expected referendum on the euro beyond. And the belief is growing that the Prime Minister's decision to take on the Euro-sceptics will build pressure on him to declare his hand on the issue, at least at the point of the election.
Mr Blair said yesterday Europe was not marginal to the British economy but "fundamental" to it, warning: "To quit Europe would be an act of economic mutilation." Arguing that Britain was stronger for being in Europe, the Prime Minister said: "We make this case, not because we are pro-Europe - though I believe in the ideal of European partnership - we make it because we are pro-Britain." And he added: "The real denial of our history would be to retreat into isolation from the continent of Europe of which we are a part and whose history we have so intimately shaped."
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