Ken ‘clarity’ Clarke says EU budget veto would be ‘absurd’

Wise gamblers could do worse than to place a hefty bet every time Ken Clarke expresses an opinion that he’ll have to clarify it shortly afterwards. The minister without portfolio said at a Policy Exchange event this morning that it would be ‘absurd’ for Britain to go to Brussels intending to veto the EU budget. He said:

‘It’s absolutely ludicrous to go there intending to veto. It’s just absurd.

‘Every one of the 27 member states has a veto. What they’ve got to do is reach a negotiated situation. Of course people have a veto. Any government will veto if it goes too far in one direction or the other.’

And a little later, he duly clarified his remarks:

‘The clear meaning of what I said was that we cannot go intending to exercise a veto before we actually arrive. But we have an undoubted right to exercise a veto if we cannot negotiate a satisfactory conclusion.