In a move that is sure to firm up the Prime Minister’s increasingly grim position in the eyes of his backbenchers and party, Dave has ruled out ever campaigning for the UK to leave the EU. Discussing an in/out referendum with the Telegraph he claims:

“I think it would be bad for Britain. When I look at what is in our national interest, we are not some country that looks in on ourself or retreats from the world. Britain’s interest – trading a vast share of our GDP – is to be in those markets. Not just buying, selling, investing, receiving investment but also helping to write the rules. If we were outside, we wouldn’t be able to do that.

It comes back to this, who are going to be the winning nations for the 21st century? If your vision of Britain was that we should just withdraw and become a sort of greater Switzerland, I think that would be a complete denial of our national interests.”

He has to make the right noises for now, but there was no reason to be quite so dismissive. Unless of course he was talking from the heart for once. What happens if his treasured renegotiation plan is rejected by other countries?