Some No 10 aides were already heading to RAF Northolt for their Thursday evening flight to the Netherlands when the speech they were going for was cancelled.
That morning, David Cameron’s advisers had been determined that his big address on Europe would go ahead on Friday morning. They didn’t want the terrorists to dictate the news agenda. But a call between Mr Cameron and the Algerian premier on Thursday afternoon led to a rapid change of plan.
Sources tell me the gist of this call was that the Algerians were unsure what was going on in the desert, but knew it was a bloodbath.
Mr Cameron decided that he couldn’t leave the country and the speech was rightly postponed.
Downing Street wants Mr Cameron to deliver this address as soon as possible. Having squared it with most key players in the party, they have no desire for the debate to be reopened. Yet Downing Street planners face a logistical nightmare in finding a time for the speech.
Ideally, Mr Cameron would give it this week. But tomorrow is President Obama’s inauguration and the Cameroons don’t want to compete with that for coverage. Tuesday is out because, as one Downing Street figure explains, ‘We can’t rain on Merkel and Hollande’s parade’ as they celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Elysee Treaty between France and Germany.
The latter part of the week is dominated by the Prime Minister’s Davos address, setting out his agenda for Britain’s chairmanship of the G8. This leaves Wednesday as the most likely time for it. Finding a venue isn’t any easier. I’m told the speech is meant to be delivered abroad’. Yet in the current weather, the Cameron team is fearful that if they choose a European location, they will have to delay the speech again due to snow. When Mr Cameron does finally manage to get out the words ‘renegotiate’ and ‘referendum’, he’ll turn nervously to Berlin. He needs Angela Merkel’s support to persuade the rest of Europe to accept Britain’s demands for new terms of membership.
No 10 needs Angela Merkel¿s support to persuade the rest of Europe to accept Britain¿s demands for new terms of membership.So keen is No 10 to win Mrs Merkel’s backing that the speech uses her line that Europe has seven per cent of the world’s population, a quarter of its GDP, but accounts for about half of its social spending, to make the case for reform.
However, one of those involved in devising this strategy says Mrs Merkel views the Prime Minister as a ‘charming but naughty nephew’. She wants to keep him in the family but her willingness to indulge him is not infinite.
One bit of relief for Mr Cameron is that those Tories who have been briefed on the speech are broadly happy with it. One Cabinet Minister jokes that it is ‘a Eurosceptic argument as to why we need Europe and a pro-European argument as to why the EU is rubbish’.
There’s mild moaning about some ‘sub-Churchillian rhetoric’ in it, but the main criticism is that it is ‘remarkably vague’ about how Mr Cameron intends to make his vision a reality.
A COMEBACK FOR FOX AS HE SCENTS A NEW CABINET JOB
Government sources say a return to the Cabinet for Liam Fox is increasingly likely as his rehabilitation continues apace.
No 10 is delighted it has persuaded him to back Mr Cameron’s EU speech.
One senior Cameron adviser is impressed by the loyalty that Fox, right, has shown since being forced to resign.
They museed that the former Defence Secretary could come back as Chief Whip.
Fox, who was a whip in John Major’s Government, is from the wing of the party– the old-school Right –most likely to cause the Prime Minister trouble, making him well placed to counter any rebellions from there.
Bringing him back would also offer hope to the growing group of ex-Ministers on the Government benches.
However, he has raised the stakes among his own party ahead of the speech. In the Cabinet Room on Wednesday afternoon, he told the assembled Tory Secretaries of State that he had deliberately not answered Ed Miliband’s query at Prime Minister’s Questions as to whether all Ministers would have to campaign for Britain to stay in the EU on the new terms.
He said this was because he wanted to tell them the answer first. Once the renegotiation was complete, he said, Cabinet collective responsibility would apply.
If Mr Cameron wants all Tory Ministers to campaign for an ‘in vote’ come the referendum, he will have to secure very different terms of EU membership to Britain’s current ones. He’ll have to hope that Merkel is prepared to hear her ‘naughty nephew’ out.
Tories take their message into the temples Jeremy Hunt argued the party should stop focusing on immigrationOn Wednesday, Conservative Secretaries of State met in the Cabinet Room to discuss a problem that could make Tory Cabinet meetings a thing of the past – the party’s standing with ethnic minorities.
Cameron’s chief strategist, Andrew Cooper, and the party’s new vice-chairman, Alok Sharma, told the meeting that at the last Election the party got just 16 per cent of the non-white vote.
Given that 27 per cent of under-fives in Britain are non-white, this threatens the Tories with electoral oblivion.
Cooper said Ministers should avoid attacks on multiculturalism and instead make a positive case for integration.
Cameron revealed he will hold a series of Q&As in Hindu temples, Sikh gurdwaras and mosques this year, and wanted Ministers to do the same. ‘We’re going to police these commitments,’ says one senior No 10 aide.
Meanwhile, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt argued the party should stop focusing on immigration.
However, Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith disagreed, saying ethnic minority voters were just as worried about immigration – particularly from Eastern Europe – as anybody else.
I’m informed Mr Cameron believes Tories can speak about immigration and still gain the backing of ethnic minority voters.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Quotes of the week American actress Jodie Foster made a memorable speech ‘You are the embodiment of new beginnings, of brilliant intention and all that is wonderful and beautiful.’ Gill Hicks, who lost her legs in the 7/7 bombings, welcomes her new baby, Amelie.‘If anyone throws snowballs at persons’ homes or at people who do not want to be involved in the snow games, they could be arrested.’ Durham Police take a heavy-handed approach to the cold snap.‘I thank his guardian angel.’ Leanna Biagioni after her crane-operator husband Nicki overslept on Wednesday morning, when a helicopter crashed into his crane in Vauxhall, Central London.‘Spare a thought for all those genuine people who walked away with no rewards – just shattered dreams. Each one of them is worth a thousand Lances.’ Olympic gold medallist Nicole Cooke issues a parting shot at drug cheat Lance Armstrong as she announces her retirement from cycling.‘Tell you what Mabel, he doesn’t suit daylight, does he?’ A female fan of Sir Michael Parkinson is overheard by the veteran presenter at a book signing in the Midlands.‘An HMV gift card isn’t just for Christmas, it’s for life.’ A joke doing the rounds after the high street chain went into administration and refused to honour gift cards and vouchers.‘Women can chase apartments and jobs, but not men. It’s biology.’ Ellen Fein, co-author of dating guide The Rules, riles feminists with her insights.
‘Some of these drugs are a good deal safer than tobacco and alcohol. It may be a very good thing if we could get some young people to switch from alcohol.’ Baroness Meacher, chairman of the East London NHS Foundation Trust, calls for some drugs to be decriminalised.‘I’m just going to put it out there, loud and proud . . . I am, uh, single.’ Actress Jodie Foster comes out as a lesbian in a moving speech at the Golden Globe Awards.'That was my area of expertise' Rosie Huntington-Whiteley says knickers are her specialist subject after ten years as a lingerie model. Rosie Huntington-Whiteley modelling her new lingerie range for Marks and Spencer
