James Forsyth James Forsyth

Extended version: Our interview with Owen Paterson

As promised by Fraser earlier, here is an extended version of James’s interview with Owen Paterson that we posted yesterday:

It is becoming increasingly clear what the Conservative party expects of its Prime Minister. If he is going to agree to 17 eurozone countries pushing ahead with the Franco-German plan for fiscal union, he needs to secure a new deal for Britain in exchange.

Just what this new deal should look like is a matter of intense debate in Conservative circles. If France and Germany turn the eurozone into a ‘fiscal union’, what does that mean for Britain’s standing in the European Union? At the weekend, Iain Duncan Smith suggested that the nature of the EU would change so much that a referendum would be necessary. No. 10 quickly ruled that out. Cameron confided to Cabinet colleagues on Monday that he feared a referendum that again pitted the two coalition parties against each other would bring down the coalition.

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