Caroline Flint, Labour’s minister of state for Europe, sparked some minor controversy earlier this week, after she admitted she had not read parts of the Lisbon treaty: “I have read some of it but not all of it,” she confessed. The Tories professed their outrage, seemingly forgetting Ken Clarke‘s famous declaration, back when he was a senior member of John Major’s cabinet, that he had not read the Maastricht treaty.
LDV felt duty-bound to put the question to Ed Davey, the Lib Dems’ shadow foreign secretary – here’s what he told us:
I’ve read all the key parts, but there are sections that don’t apply to the UK and some sections that are so insignificant, that I can’t claim to have read every word. It does matter that Ministers and shadows read these parts – but actually other background papers and explanatory notes can be at least as important.
Ken Clarke has a little bit of a case. There are parts of the Maastricht traty that are even less intelligible than the worst parts of the Lisbon Treaty.
But the EU disease of Treaties (and intended Constitutions) being signed by responsible politicians who do not read what they are signing – and could not fully understand the documents if they did – has to be tackled.
Maybe there has to be fudge, but good quality fudge tastes a great deal better than EU efforts do.
Surely he meant to say “I’ve read all the right parts, just not in the right order”