Boris Johnson rarely misses an opportunity to put some clear blue water between himself and David Cameron, so it’s no surprise to see him call for the break-up of the euro.
He writes in his Telegraph column today:
The whole European enterprise is now devoted to keeping the euro alive on the utterly specious grounds that the currency is synonymous with “Europe”. We are nailing shut the exits of William Hague’s famous burning building. British taxpayers going to be shelling out ever more in bail-out dosh, much of which will ultimately go to banks and bankers’ bonuses. And all the while the southern EU members will be put on ever tougher austerity regimes that frankly don’t suit their needs. No matter how hard I diet, I won’t look like a championship athlete. The Greeks can’t become Germans, and it is brutal to force them to try.
Significantly, while Boris has previously called for Greece to leave the eurozone, this is the first time that he has widened that call to include “southern EU members”. To Tory members dismayed that William Hague, the man who fought an election to “save the pound”, is now fighting to save the euro, his column will appear as a blast of sanity. It’s something Boris will hope they remember when and if he stands for the party leadership.