Britannist

Anti-EU Conservative MP Daniel Hannan MEP writes that europhile Liberal 'Democrat' Clegg - by calling for a referendum on the UK quitting the EU (which he has done as a tactic to divert attention away from the fact that his party has broken its 2005 General Election promise to back a national vote on the EU Treaty) - may actually help bring discussion about UK withdrawal from the EU into the political mainstream:

Let’s hear some arguments for the EU : February 2008 : Daniel Hannan : Politics : Telegraph Blogs

Britannist

Brief edited extract from the Telegraph website article by Mr. Hannan on the link in the first posting to this thread "Cleggie has suddenly made it respectable to debate the merits of withdrawal from the EU. For years, Euro-enthusiasts have sought to avoid a detailed discussion of the subject. For a long time, the secessionist case was presented by newspapers and, more especially, the BBC, as a fringe position not even worth considering. But now that the BBC’s party of choice is demanding a national debate on the subject, it will be far harder to avoid one."