The impossibility of being Ken

This from Caroline Flint on Ken's comments: "Ken Clarke is absolutely right to warn David Cameron that his European policy would only serve to isolate Britain from the US.

"It's a straightforward test for David Cameron: Give up your policy on Europe, as Ken Clarke says, or give up the special relationship.

"Tory policy on Europe is ‘crackpot’, ‘dotty’ and ‘frankly absurd’, as Ken has repeatedly said."

This is really about much more than Ken's original comments, it shows the impossibility of his pledge not to challenge Tory policy on Europe.

If he walked down the street and shouted "hey you", someone would hear "EU" and accuse him of trying to take Britain into a federal Europe.