Hague Being Vague - Again?

William Hague has an 'interview' published in the Telegraph today, calling for a EU protest vote and noting that it is not too late to force a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.

A number of interesting questions are raised by this 'interview'. Let us look at exactly what he said and, more importantly, what he did not say.

Hague said Britain urgently needs to renegotiate its relationship with Europe. The first questions that arise is what does he mean by relationship? And 'renegotiate' what exactly? Do the Conservative Party want out or a 'trading relationship' only, in other words no political subjugation? Whilst indicating that the Conservative Party are likely to attempt to scrap the treaty - possibly by calling a retrospective referendum - if they are elected, this statement does nothing to contradict their previously stated policy of only holding a referendum should the treaty not have been ratified by all 27 member states. Hague also states that David Cameron and he are planning to make the failure of the Government to call a referendum a key campaigning issue. This will be a surprise as David Cameron's wish to discuss our membership of the European Union has, to date, been most noticeable by its absence.

The issue he raises regarding opposition to Tony Blair becoming EU President is but, I think, a 'red herring' and is neither here nor there when considering the question of this country's membership of that odious, federalist body.

It is a bit late to state "I think it's time to ring the alarm bell, it's time to alert the people" - what the hell does he think we Eurosceptics have been doing for the past 30 years? This from a party whose Leader, in answer to the question I put to him - a few years ago - of whether he felt any shame in belonging to a body that had agreed to give away that which was not theirs to give, namely the right of this country to decide its own laws, the answer was NO!

In summary this 'interview' raises more questions than it answers and leads one to the conclusion that if you want a statement that is vague - call for Hague! (to paraphrase an old advertisement for a brand of scotch)