By Paul Goodman
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And now, after Owen Paterson's Spectator interview this morning (the full version of which will be published tomorrow) and nine EU-related Tory questions to Cameron at PMQs, we have Boris. The Mayor of London is reported to have said:
"If there is a new treaty at 27, if there is a new EU treaty that creates a kind of fiscal union within the eurozone, then we would have absolutely no choice either to veto it or to put it to a referendum."
"If they set up an economic government of Europe that involves very substantial fiscal transfers to poorer regions of the EU, that involved budgetary control over national economies in the way that is being proposed, if they try do go down that route towards a fiscal union, then certainly I think that should be something … frankly, it's the wrong way to go and I think we should be opposing it."
He also said that Britain could not reasonably ask for a referendum on the outcome of any negotiation if the 17 Eurozone countries go it alone. Boris's intervention is his latest means of demonstrating his independence and boosting his popularity with the Conservative grassroots.
The Mayor may be shambolic, but his timing is immaculate, at least in this occasion.
Hat-tip for the quotes: Andrew Sparrow.