Let's dish the French
The more people say 'It's not on' the likelier it becomes that it won't be on. Political speculation in high and low circles as to the people who will tell Mr Heath that 'it's not on' invariably mention Peter Carring- ton and Willie Wfiitelaw, with Chief Whip Francis Pym in attendance. These three are far from enthusiastic marketeers. What they . have in common is overriding loyalty to the Tory party. If the Prime Minister's pro- market susceptibilities look like blurring his political judgment and threatening party unity and Tory control of the Commons, then the Prime Minister will be told very firmly indeed 'it's not on': and if he still stubbornly persists' with his European policy he will be told to go.
The general assumption, however, is that if he is told 'it's not on' (and it is increasingly thought to be only a matter of time before he is thus informed), his reply will be 'thank You, gentlemen. If you say it's not on, then we must drop it.' He may, to save face, sug- gest what's called in political circles, 'the long solution', which is to leave the applica- tion on the table for another two or three years or more. Or he may say (reverting to another old and very respectable political phrase) 'Right then, let's dish the French.'
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