The state of the Conservative Party and its views on Europe make it quite bizarre to contemplate my standing

"The state of the Conservative Party and its views on Europe make it quite bizarre to contemplate my standing."There is no longer brave talk of the pro-Europeans regaining control of the party after another shattering defeat. It seems that they have finally accepted defeat in the party's long civil war. Instead, Mr Clarke said, his wing of the party would "make its contribution" on other issues but continue to disagree with the official policy on Europe.He appealed to Mr Hague to reconsider his call for a referendum on the new European Union treaty agreed at this month's summit in Nice, and echoed Mr Blair's criticism of the Tory leader's claim that it paved the way for a European superstate. "I have never seen anything less like a superstate in all my life," Mr Clarke said. What marked the summit was "the cacophony of competing national interests", which showed the EU was a group of nation states."I really don't think we could have a sensible referendum on the minutiae of qualified majority voting when 80 per cent of EU decisions were already made on that basis before Nice," he said.Mr Clarke welcomed Mr Blair's decision to make a positive case for Europe ahead of the summit but was sceptical about whether it would last.

He accused the Prime Minister of being "pusillanimous" on the single currency and failing to give the country a lead.But he described British membership of the single currency as "inevitable" and believed that a re-elected Labour government would hold a referendum in the next Parliament, despite speculation that it might be shelved.Finally, Mr Clarke expressed his concern at the state of British politics. "We are rather lacking that sense of serious choice and great debate which the public would like to see in the run-up to a general election," he said. "The public has got very disillusioned with politics."He blamed the importing of "lightweight American techniques of political management" in which politicians in all parties rely too heavily on focus group interviews with small groups of voters."Focus groups ask people what they want politicians to say. The public actually want the politicians to decide what they want to say and be the source of the big ideas."If we can be the first party to break from that, I think the public would respond.

They want to be governed and led in a difficult and complex world," Mr Clarke said.. Kenneth Clarke accused William Hague yesterday of serious errors of judgement in his controversial campaign on race and the police, saying he should never have raised the case of the murdered 10-year-old Damilola Taylor. Kenneth Clarke accused William Hague yesterday of serious errors of judgement in his controversial campaign on race and the police, saying he should never have raised the case of the murdered 10-year-old Damilola Taylor. In an interview with The Independent, the former chancellor and home secretary suggested Mr Hague had allowed the Tories' opponents to portray the party as playing the race card because he did not think through the consequences of his strategy. He called the Shadow Cabinet "beleaguered", and warned that its recent outbreak of infighting was damaging the party just months from a general election.His comments are the strongest public criticism of Mr Hague by a senior Conservative since the Tory leader's claims that Damilola's death was due to reduced police patrols on his estate and that police were reluctant to use stop and search because the force was branded "institutionally racist" by the Macpherson inquiry into the murder of Stephen Lawrence.Mr Clarke also attacked the Tory leadership for not getting its message across on issues such as education and health while giving too much prominence to Europe, and he cast doubts on the party's policy of putting tax cuts ahead of spending on public services.Mr Hague's offensive on race and policing backfired when Damilola's parents accused him of turning their son's death into a political football. Mr Clarke said: "It is usually wisest to keep off individual cases affecting victims at a time when the the family and everyone else is highly sensitive on the subject." He went on: "You must be careful before you talk about current crimes which touch on the sensitivities and stress of real victims."Given the sensitivity of the [race] subject, it has to be handled in a way which makes it absolutely clear that the Conservative Party is repudiating racism fiercely and is not ignoring the fact that there are problems in parts of the police and the attitude of some police officers to racial minorities."William has tried to go along that tightrope but discovered that is too sensational a subject for it to come out that way in the newspapers."He added: "If you are not careful you give the idea to people who are racialist that you are slightly titillating their views I am quite sure William is not a racialist.

I think he has got to keep slapping that suggestion down."Mr Clarke, who was Home Secretary between 1992 and 1993, believed the Macpherson report was "flawed" because branding the Metropolitan force as "institutionally racist" was "unhelpful". He said police morale was very low and many officers felt threatened by "politically correct pressures".He defended Mr Hague's right to raise an important issue, but questioned whether he was wise to return to the Macpherson report "It is an extremely sensitive subject," he said. "If you are going to return to it after two years, then it has to be done in a walking on eggshells fashion."I think he had a good case and discovered this is a minefield of an area to go into because strident reactions are almost certain to be provoked."Asked whether Mr Hague should move to other issues, Mr Clarke said: " I think he will."But an unrepentant Mr Hague has said he would not be "bullied" into silence. He told the Jimmy Young programme on BBC Radio 2 that he did not mention race in his initial comments and accused a "left-wing, liberal élite" of media commentators and Labour ministers of trying to turn it in to a race issue."The more I am attacked by this liberal élite - that eggs me on because I know then I am on to something. Millions of people in this country want me to continue to speak up."He also told GMTV that all political parties were desperately sorry for Damilola's family.

"But when a little boy is stabbed and bleeds to death in a stairwell on an estate where there are not enough police, than that is an issue that concerns the whole country.". Neil and Christine Hamilton should be used to humiliating defeats by now, but there was still a look of astonishment and disbelief on their faces yesterday as they contemplated financial ruin over what the judges had declared was just "a load of rubbish". Neil and Christine Hamilton should be used to humiliating defeats by now, but there was still a look of astonishment and disbelief on their faces yesterday as they contemplated financial ruin over what the judges had declared was just "a load of rubbish". The former Conservative minister had been confidently forecasting that the unlikely figure of Benji the Binman would help him overturn the jury's verdict in his "cash for questions" libel action against their arch-enemy Mohamed Al Fayed.But as his hopes turned to ashes with the judges' withering dismissal of the appeal in the High Court, he clutched his wife's hand for comfort and together they shook their heads at the injustice of it all.As this most public of painful dramas reached its final conclusion, the Hamilton's attempted to keep up the bravest of appearances, hinting at further action in the European Court of Human Rights to prove they had been wronged.It was a year to the day, almost to the hour, since the former MP for Tatton lost his libel action against Mr Fayed, that the Master of the Rolls, Lord Phillips, issued a second knockout defeat when he began his judgement with the words: "This application is about a load of rubbish."By the end of the summary it appeared that he and his fellow judges felt much the same way about Mr Hamilton's case. "We doubt whether a court has often, if ever, been invited to make a finding of misconduct equivalent to fraud on evidence as unsatisfactory as that placed before us."The specifics of Mr Hamilton's appeal related to documents stolen from the dustbins of his barristers by Benjamin Pell, also known as Benji the Binman, and sold to Mr Fayed's representatives for £10,000.Mr Hamilton claimed this gave the Harrods owner an unfair advantage at the original libel trial and thus the jury's verdict should be quashed.