As Paul Waugh reports today, the ranks of those destructively prepared to fight to reverse that verdict ­ just as the Bennite Left fought to reverse the 1975 referendum result ­ appear to be growing. To join such a group would be a suicide pact too far for Mr Portillo.The idea that all this yet amounts to a Clarke-Portillo pact has almost certainly been overwritten, and not only because in the event of an absolutely crushing defeat for the Tories Mr Clarke himself could not be wholly ruled out as a potential leader. It might even be theoretically possible for Mr Hague himself to give the same licence to the pro-Europeans. And none of this will be even relevant if Mr Hague conspicuously improves the Tories’ showing, as he is evidently confident he will. But if not, and there is another rout, it will be a defeat not only for a leader, but for a strategy. And that will change a great deal in politics, not least the prospects for British entry into the single currency.d.macintyre independent.co.uk
More from Donald Macintyre.

When Athan Manuel, a green activist, set off from Washington to lobby today’s BP annual general meeting, his daughter, Ariadne, was upset. Mr Manuel said: “She was fine after I told her I was off to stop some people in England killing the caribou. She tells everyone my job is saving the caribou.”

Environmental lobbyingWhen Athan Manuel, a green activist, set off from Washington to lobby today’s BP annual general meeting, his daughter, Ariadne, was upset. Mr Manuel said: “She was fine after I told her I was off to stop some people in England killing the caribou. She tells everyone my job is saving the caribou.”To a large extent it is. For three years, Mr Manuel has run the Arctic Wilderness Campaign (AWC) which can call on more than a million members.The group is opposed to George Bush’s plans to open up Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration, and sees BP as the company it must win over if it is to succeed.If the AWC fails, 19 million acres of pristine wilderness, home to polar bears, oxen and Porcupine river caribou, could be damaged.AWC and Greenpeace’s Resolution 18 urges BP to stay out of the refuge.

Mr Manuel said BP was responsible for 51 per cent of existing oil production in Alaska, mainly in Prudhoe Bay. “There have been three bad oil spills in the past three months, but because of its dominant position, BP knows it would be well placed for further exploitation.”For 10 years, he waged a campaign to stop oil firms drilling off the Florida Keys Finally George Bush Snr gave in. “Now we’ve got a fight on to stop his son doing something just as damaging.”Political lobbyingGedun Rinchen, aged 52, a translator, was held in an isolation prison cell for eight months “I was lucky because I wasn’t tortured,” he says. He was sent to prison as a “spy and counter revolutionary” for attempting to write to a European Union delegation in Beijing about injustices in Tibet.The Tibetan government in exile says 1.2 million people have died as a result of the 1949 Chinese occupation.Now, the Chinese state-owned oil firm PetroChina is building a pipeline across Tibet, but Mr Rinchen and the Free Tibet Campaign believe it will not benefit Tibetans.They want BP, which has a 2.2 per cent stake in PetroChina, to sever its links.Today, Mr Rinchen will promote Resolution 17, which calls on the oil company to get out of projects in Tibet, East Turkestan and Sudan.He said: “The exploitation of mineral resources in Tibet will not help the Tibetan people.

It will benefit the Chinese people.” On Sudan, it says: “PetroChina’s parent company has been implicated in the deaths and human rights violations of thousands of Sudanese, as documented by Amnesty International.”BP’s board says it cannot afford to ignore the opportunities China offers. It makes no mention of Sudan.Economic lobbying In September, angered at the high cost of petrol, the Farmers For Action (FFA) lobby almost brought the country to a standstill. Today, while the anger is still there, many farmers won’t be inside or outside BP’s annual general meeting because of foot-and-mouth. Many are confined to their farms.That does not, however, let BP off the hook. Paul Reynolds, the FFA treasurer, said: “We still have our eye on them and won’t give them an easy ride BP is making billions at the expense of small business.

Their profits are excessive.”They say they don’t make profits from the petrol pumps, but they could divert earnings from other operations to subsidise fuel prices.”Farmers and hauliers still feel angry that they agreed to a 60-day cooling-off period for the Government to examine their demands for lower fuel tax. During that time, the public support they had enjoyed dissipated. By the time the Chancellor announced limited fuel and road tax concessions with which they were not satisfied, their moment had come and gone.”The reductions in petrol have already been eaten away by price rises from the likes of BP,” Mr Reynolds said. “We’re back to where we were before we launched our campaign, so we realise we have to take more action.”.