Still snowed under

I am still snowed under with work - I have done about eight hours today (can’t remember when I last had to work on a Sunday).

One of Terry’s cronies was in the office talking about the Lisbon Treaty (the government have reneged on their manifesto pledge to hold a referendum on whether “we” agree with it).

Possibly it might get chucked out in the House of Lords (provoking a constitutional crisis, although arguably ratifying the Treaty without a referendum is in itself a constitutional crisis).

Anyway, to let Terry’s pal talk for himself:

“People get worked up about how this Treaty is irrevocable, and once it’s done there’s no going back. But the truth is that the Queen in Parliament is supreme. Doesn’t matter how many Treaties are signed, we can reverse any part of them we don’t like with a simple Order in Council”.

“Well, wouldn’t that incite a European backlash and get us thrown out?”

“Not at all. What are they going to do - refuse to trade with us? Send the Gestapo to arrest us?”

“Well, wouldn’t it be dishonourable to break a treaty once it has been ratified?”

“Dishonourable for whom? Dishonourable for Gordon Brown I grant you. But not dishonourable for the rest of us, since we havn’t said yes or no yet.”

“Well, wouldn’t we just get thrown out of Europe?”

“Not at all I tell you. Look at the record - Europe always backs down when challenged by a big national government. If he gets in, Cameron could wade into Europe, get the concessions he wants, win a referendum and go on to win a subsequent election on the back of it.”

At that point they went off to have lunch (“We’ll meet Marcus in the Silver Cross and then go on to Albannach”) leaving me to “carry on”.

More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7277644.stm