The Infamous Five

‘HANDS up who wants to be part of the new Europe? Who wants to wear a beret and sip ale from a massive stein, while an oompah band leads us all in a tarantella?

”So I said to Prezza, what do you think of entry into EMU? And he said he thought Rod Hull was dead…”

It’s the kind of question Tony Blair will ask his Cabinet in 24 days time. As the Mail leads, Chancellor Gordon Brown will announce the decision on joining the euro on June 9, after two major Cabinet meetings.

For the papers, this means two things. Firstly, as the Express has it, there is now little likelihood of a public referendum on the euro during this parliament’s lifetime.

Secondly, as the Sun suggests, the move to allow Cabinet ministers to scrutinise an area of government that had been the Chancellor’s sole preserve is evidence of a power struggle at the top table.

The second point would be easier to dismiss had it not come after Clare Short’s call for an ”elegant” transfer of power from Tony to Gordon.

At least La Short’s resignation has spared her the arduous job of wading through 2,5000 pages of complex Treasury analysis of the euro.

The Sun says that the 18 technical studies stand over 2ft high and weigh in excess of two-and-a-half stones.

Ministers will be expected to digest this feast and then talk with a degree of knowledge to the Chancellor and Prime Minister in Cabinet and in ”individual cross-examinations” by the pair.

Which should set up an interesting meeting with John Prescott (can he read?) and the likes of Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell, who’s off on a jolly to the Cannes film festival today.

Perhaps she can think of it a script: Five Tests For Gordon. Or Five Go Mad.

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Posted: 16th, May 2003 | In: Tabloids Comment | TrackBack | Permalink