THE EU: Not 24 hours after Tony Blair had announced in the House of Commons that the British people would be given the chance to vote on the European constitution, the Sun declared the findings of a poll of its own readers: 3 per cent in favour and 97 per cent against, a clear-cut result that the paper oddly described as a "shock".
The Daily Mail felt Mr Blair had little choice in the matter, and while it feared he would use "the black arts of scaremongering and spin" to influence the debate, it had no doubt of the end result. "Truth will out. The public simply will not let itself be manipulated and misled on an issue that goes to the heart of what it is to be British." For the Daily Telegraph, the referendum decision was the result of the prime minister's failures. "Frustrated on other fronts - Iraq, immigration, public services - and with Gordon Brown impatient to succeed him, Mr Blair has decided to change the subject: to Europe. It is a calculated risk, but also a demonstration of his political survival instinct. The Prime Minister is at his best with his back to the wall, defending a cause in which he believes." Labour MP Gerald Kaufman, writing in the Financial Times, disagreed, seeing the move as primarily a cynical one designed to split the Tories. "This was Blair not as bishop - his preferred guise when talking of such elevated notions as his mission in Iraq - but as bookie. It was Blair as (Harold) Wilson, the racy politician taking a chance." Over on the Europhile side, Martin Kettle in the Guardian was full of pessimism. The referendum, he felt, would mark the point at which "this country's debased, biased and unaccountable media formally take control of the political process": "forget any idea that the referendum debate will be Plato's Republic in action. It will inescapably be a contest fought on terms dictated by the unelected media rather than by the elected politicians." Also in the Guardian, Timothy Garton Ash seemed more up for the fight. "For 15 years, if not 50, the people of Britain have lived in a stinking fog of myths and lies about the European project. For nearly seven long years in office, Tony Blair has never quite dared to start the battle that he has always known should be fought. Now, with the promise of a referendum on the constitution, he must and will." In Germany, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung was unhappy. "Blair has not been able to resist for too long the populism of the Eurosceptics. Evidently he is now only listening to his instinct for political survival. For a statesman, that is rather disappointing."
The Süddeutsche Zeitung disagreed. In Germany a curious coalition of the Eurosceptic right and the very federalist Greens is pressing for a vote. Politicians "should not be afraid of the people, unless they really think that the citizens are too stupid or that they themselves are too lazy to do the work of persuasion".
Paris's Le Figaro thought it only fair to admit that Tony Blair was a man of courage and conviction. Having embarked on a war against Saddam Hussein in spite of the reservations of public opinion, he was now getting ready to engage in a pro-European crusade in a country whose populace "invariably became restive about anything that might upset their insular habits". On this occasion, however, it felt his decision, motivated by "entirely domestic electoral manoeuvres", would complicate things. Europe advances by crises, it reminded us, in the words of Jean Monnet, but added: "A pity that some of them find their explanation in the least noble causes."
El País in Madrid argued that the victory of the No campaign in Britain, or in any other country, would prevent the introduction of the constitution and force the Union to retain the rule of unanimity, a much more complicated matter with 25 members involved. The paper also felt the decision was not taken for any noble or democratic reasons but was a political dodge. Which brings us neatly back to Gerald Kaufman in the Financial Times, who seemed to have a particular affection for dodgers. The referendum, he felt, would "delightfully" split the Tories.
"Bravo Tony! Some people were deluded by your dog-collar cover as a man of stern principle. But I always knew you had it in you."