Spectator letters: who kept us out of the euro, and how to deal with squirrels

The referendum parties

Sir: Zac Goldsmith and Sir John Major are each of them both right and wrong on the EU referendum (‘My dad saved Britain’, 28 February; Letters, 21 March). I was an MP interested in Europe, and then a PPS and minister on EU issues in the Foreign Office from 1997 to 2005, and it was pretty clear to all of us that Sir John’s decision to call a referendum on euro entry was motivated by his need to appease the rising Eurosceptic fronde in his party. He may sincerely believe that the creation of the Referendum party by Sir James Goldsmith had nothing to do with the decision. But for the rest of us at the time the use of a referendum — described by Margaret Thatcher as ‘the device of demagogues and dictators’ — was a ploy to shore up Tory votes against the Eurosceptic passion for a plebiscite.