Another was the meeting this week of the parliamentary party to discuss whether or not to sever ties with other centre-right parties in the European Parliament. One of the demoralised band of pro-European Tory MPs told me: “It was awful. The worst parliamentary meeting I have ever attended.” Only Kenneth Clarke spoke out against the passionate, self-confident calls for the formal links to be broken.But behind the bravado of the Tory Euro-sceptics lurks a real doubt. Privately, many of them do not believe they have a credible policy on the Euro. Most of them would prefer a commitment to rule it out forever.

They are worried that the current policy, which Hague has no intention of changing, and would have problems doing so as it was confirmed by a ballot of party members, is not credible.Up until the end of the next parliament they are licensed to warn about the horrors of the Euro. But when the golden, cathartic period has come to an end, the Tory policy is to reconsider.They are right to be worried. It gives the evasive Tony Blair a get-out clause which he deploys at every opportunity and will be able to do so in an election campaign. Whenever Hague attacks him, as he does with some effect at Prime Minister’s Question Time, Blair can swat him away by invoking the Tory policy which neither pleases fully its pro-European nor its Euro-sceptic wing.In my view the high politics of the Tory party and the Euro will not greatly change between now and the election.

Indeed, it will not change until a referendum is eventually held. Those who have had apocalyptic visions of the Euro being the catalyst for a dramatic realignment in politics will be proved wrong. The Pro-Europeans in the party will occasionally raise their head above the parapet, but without making waves. Sceptics will whisper privately that they wished they had an even stronger anti- Euro policy, but to no avail.

Hague will portray himself as the saviour of the pound, but for only one parliament.What of the Government’s position? In spite of recent reports to the contrary, it has not changed since Blair announced the changeover plan earlier this year. At the time it was heralded by pro-Europeans as the moment he had crossed the Rubicon. In their excitement they failed to notice that he had added another condition before Britain signed up.It was in this statement that Blair declared that it was essential for other EU countries to adopt the flexible labour markets which are central to New Labour’s economic creed. During his leadership, Harold Wilson changed his mind four times on whether Britain should join the Common Market The equally pragmatic Blair is being cleverer. He is keeping the option of joining the Euro, and the option of not joining, in the air at the same time.It is an easy position to mock and I have called on him to take a stronger line many times. But given the symbolic hardening of the Tory position, the persistent hostility of the media and the erratic early performance of the Euro, I have also come to accept that his Wilsonian pragmatism is the only practical option available to him.For unless he has had a cowardly change of heart in the wake of the Euro results, I take Blair’s “wait and see” position to be very different from the one that Thatcher adopted over the ERM or the one held by Major in the run-up to the last election.