Playing it down

Simon Heffer – sounding off in his usual robust style in the Telegraph today – notes that the Tories seem to be playing down the need for a referendum on the EU treaty.

We thought that we were the only ones who had noticed, although the comments by Matthew d’Ancona and David Davis did give some clues as to what was going on.

Heffer's political antennae are pretty good on these issues and, now that he has picked it up, it does very much seem as if Cameron is going through the motions.

That, in part, explains the paucity of news in the media on the EU referendum issue – there is simply nothing to drive the issue forward. All the papers are struggling to find copy, as indeed are we – although The Huntsman has an entertaining little story that should get the juices flowing.

For us, Helen will post later today, and I am working on a story of how the MoD managed to spend nearly £300 million of our money, yet all they have to show for it is some flexible tubes to blow hot air up soldiers' trousers. I'll post that in a couple of hours on Defence of the Realm.

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