In his speech this morning, David Cameron said that:
"We will therefore hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, pass a law requiring a referendum to approve any further transfers of power to the EU, negotiate the return of powers, and require far more detailed scrutiny in Parliament of EU legislation, regulation and spending."
The pledge to hold a referendum wasn't accompanied by the qualification that such a referendum will only occur if the treaty is not already in place. That is quite an omission and, in such an important speech, a strange thing to leave out by mistake or to save time.
Is the Conservative Party moving towards a more robust opposition to the Lisbon Treaty? Are they committing themselves to a retrospective referendum on the Treaty, just like Harold Wilson held a retrospective referendum on Common Market membership?