THE Conservative Party Conference yesterday rallied behind Mr John Major's position on Europe rewarding the Foreign Secretary, Mr Malcolm Rifkind, with a standing ovation for insisting that Britain need not take a decision on the single currency now.
But at the alternative conference on the fringe the EU Commissioner, Sir Leon Brittan, and the former Chancellor, Mr Norman Lamont, laid bare passions stirred by the EU issue.
Hundreds packed into the Royal Bath Hotel to hear Mr Lamont declare. "The whole point of our involvement in Europe since Elizabeth I has been to avoid being ruled from beyond these shores." Demanding "a bit more honesty" from integrationists, he said. "You can't say the transfer of sovereignty is inevitable and then say there is so prospect of a federal Europe.
Contriving to appear supportive of Mr Major, Mr Lamont told the meeting that Britain, the Germans and the French held "profoundly different" visions of the EU and Britain was not winning the argument. "I know what they want," he said. Quoting from one of Michael Heseltine's books, he said Britain was experiencing "federalism by stealth".
Comparing employment levels in Britain and Europe, Mr Lamont said. "If Europe doesn't change, membership won't be worth having." He added. "There is no point being at the heart of Europe if the heart is diseased."
In a gutsy performance, Sir Leon said the "disgust, bordering on contempt" displayed by Eurosceptics was "deadly" to British interests. He insisted Britain's partners wanted EMU for "practical reasons and suggested. "The payoff will be lower interest rates and lower inflation."
He mocked the Euro sceptics for displaying signs of "wetness" by turning to "protectionists" like Sir James Goldsmith. And to a chorus of disbelief from sections of the audience he said. There is no inexorable tide leading to a federal Europe."
However, Mr Rifkind's conference "triumph" yesterday morning was secured by a vigorous attack on Labour as the party of the "federal superstate" and the renewed assurance that a decision to join a single currency would be put to a referendum. He understood that some wanted a decision now one way or the other. But the cabinet believed there were good reasons why a final decision now would be "against the national interests".
The negotiations now place were equally important jail EU countries, whether they would be inside or outside the single currency. Britain needed to be at that table to protect the interests of British farmers and business, and to ensure rules made by others would not disadvantage the City of London. The Bank of England, the CBI and leading industrialists had warned against "a rush to judgment".
Mr Rifkind said. "If the national interest required a decision, we would take one regardless of the political implications for the party. But it does not." To force a decision now, just to differentiate Conservative from Labour, "would be to put party before country, and I suggest the country would not be impressed".
But Mr Rifkind said the cabinet's referendum commitment represented the vital difference between the two parties. And there was already plenty of "clear blue water" between the two "Our fellow citizens cannot look to Labour to champion the British vision for Europe." Labour, he said, was "more concerned to be popular than to be right". He mocked Mr Tony Blair's insistence that he would never be isolated in Europe, "as if that was an expression of virtue". Margaret Thatcher got the British budget rebate by being isolated John Major got the opt outs from the single currency and Social Chapter by being prepared to be isolated, he declared to applause.
He launched into Labour's "addiction to a job destroying Social Chapter", the commitment to a minimum wage, enthusiasm to "abandon the veto" and the party's plans for devolution as a package with major implications for Britain's relationship with Europe. "The United Kingdom would be less united. Great Britain would be less great. The Mother of Parliaments would be diminished. And the nation state that is Britain would be weakened," he said.
"That would be Mr Blair's contribution to the creation of a United States of Europe a fragmented Britain which would be easy prey for those who want a European superstate."