29 MAY 1971, Page 5

THE SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK

I now hear from all sides that the Prime N I Mister really is determined to go ahead on the Common Market, come what may. This intelligence proceeds alike from the soft- centred pro-marketeers, from the hard-line antis, and from the bunch in between who still postpone making up their minds until they have seen 'the terms'. By all accounts, Mr Heath himself (although virtually no one else in the Cabinet) is going for broke. His but to do or die. He is possessed as by a devil. He brooks no argument, tolerates no dissension. He is unsusceptible to reason. He is past caring. His mind is so made up that it has solidified entirely and has become an im- pervious block. He is utterly convinced that his vision is the true vision and that he possesses the consequential right to ride roughshod over everybody and every Political consideration in his way. He is furiously angry. He has become, in short, a religious fanatic.