Cameron is moving towards a post-ratification policy on the Lisbon Treaty. The Czech Republic is likely to allow the ratification of the treaty and it will pass into law. This is headlined as a betrayal by the Telegraph, trying to shore up its conservative credentials.
Let us hope that a shift to renegotiation will cause ructions in the Conservative Party. A post-ratification referendum would strengthen Cameron's demand to repatriate powers and could even be interpreted as an “exit strategy”. The latter is hope, not experience.
The indication of distancing from a referendum will disappoint Eurosceptics and ordinary Tories alike. The nearer they come to power, the less radical the rhetoric, the less potent the policies. Not that I am disappointed in this predictable path, but Cameron will have to spell out substantial repatration to mop up this discontent. EEA anyone?