Cabinet ‘certainly Eurosceptic’, says Michael Fallon

Former Conservative minister John Redwood – a leading Eurosceptic – said the coalition government was moving in the right direction, although it would never be entirely Eurosceptic because of the presence of the Lib Dems.

“The crucial ministries are held by Eurosceptics and they are getting ready for the Eurosceptic government that we want to see elected in May next year, which would negotiate a new relationship with Europe, and then either advise the British people that it was a good enough relationship to accept or to advise them that it hadn’t worked and we should leave.”

Ken Clarke said the new Cabinet was the most Eurosceptic since before former Conservative prime minister Harold Macmillan came to power in 1957.

But he rejected claims that he had been a lone Europhile voice in the cabinet, telling BBC 2’s The Daily Politics that he was just the “most outspoken” advocate of the EU at the top table and there were still members of Mr Cameron’s team who shared his views.

He also suggested that Mr Cameron, although “not as pro-European as me”, was not an “isolationist nationalist” on Europe either.

UKIP Deputy Leader Paul Nuttall said Mr Cameron was “trying to play catch-up” with UKIP but it would not work because the prime minister was a “committed Europhile”.