How Major blew it
From Mr Frederick Forsyth Sir: For John Major ('Why we must veto this alien constitution', 24 May) to urge a referendum now on the destiny of this country with regard to the EU is a tad late in the day.
Through the two years before the massacre of May 1997, I begged, entreated and beseeched him to give the country a referendum on the looming arrival of the euro, in a torrent of written and verbal embassies. He was unfailingly charming and often appeared to endorse the proposition, but was finally dedicated to indecision and/or too firmly in the grip of the Eurofanatics Heseltine. Clarke and Gummer.
At the time, he had the office and he had the power. Though the euro was not issued until 1999. everything we needed to know was known by 1996. A national decision then would have saved the country seven years of damaging schism, with more to come.
He had the chance to suture the gaping wound that was tearing his party apart, for, however strongly they feel, the Brits will always abide by the democratic majority decision if fairly arrived at.
It has been a full generation since 1975 and still, behind all the sermons about democracy, our politicians refuse to consult us on an issue far above domestic politics. Those who had the chance and blew it are hardly our best mentors today. Frederick Forsyth Hertford
Previous page
