Airstrip One

The Conspiracy - 25th May 2003, 22.55

The Observer examines the personal and political ties that underlie the campaign for a referendum on the European Constitution by the Mail, the Sun and the Torygraph.

However, one fear is that they may have jumped the gun, setting out their campaign too early, since ratification will not take place until 2004.

Update: - Even better, renegotiation from a future Conservative government, if we signed up to the Constitution, could be a codeword for withdrawal.

The new tensions centre on a major speech on Europe Duncan Smith is due to make next month. Both Cash and the heavily Eurosceptic economist Tim Congdon have been advising on it and Cash has already clashed with the more cautious Shadow Foreign Secretary, Michael Ancram, over whether it should demand renegotiation of Britain's treaties with the EU if the constitution is not diluted - seen as code for withdrawal from Europe altogether.