Leadership, please

Is a time of economic crisis an opportunity for fundamental reform, or a time to muddle through while waiting for calmer waters in which to effect lasting political and economic change? When he came to power last year, David Cameron argued for reform. He laid out plans so radical that Vince Cable complained they were ‘Maoist’. There would never be a better time to shake things up, he reasoned; if it were left until crises had passed, the momentum for change would be lost.

Now, Cameron’s zeal has vanished. A crisis, it transpires, is no time to be radical. It would be rude, almost selfish to use the summit negotiations as an opportunity to improve Britain’s relationship with the EU. So he is prepared to approve the creation of what Owen Paterson, Northern Ireland Secretary, calls a ‘new country’ — a eurozone four times our size, able to outvote us on crucial matters such as the regulation of the City of London (to the delight of the French).