Lembit Opik calls up to set me straight. Here was I portraying him as a principled rebel true to his manifesto by pledging to abstain, rather than vote against, the totemic issue of whether the British public should have a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. Au contraire, he says. ‘On this occasion, I am being a good corporate citizen’ because Clegg has decided to allow his 65 MPs to abstain on the issue of a referendum after all. So people like Lembit are off the hook.
Rather endearingly, Lembit admitted he wasn’t 100% sure but would call back if he found out any different. Good luck to him finding out anything. For reference, here is Clegg last month:
“We would vote against a referendum on the treaty and vote in accordance with our long-held position that the real referendum which needs to be had is whether we stay in the European Union or not.
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