Thurrock

OK, let's get this out of the way since the great event in Thurrock has got us absolutely nowhere but has ensured that the East European Furniture Polish Organization will continued to exist and draw money and resources away from any work that might be done to win the real fight.

Tim Montgomerie on ConHome is delighted with the result. Where he would be. After all, this is jam for the so-called Conservative eurosceptics. Of the 48,000 ballot papers that were distributed, 14,590 were returned "by post, text or e-mail", the text part being a little mysterious. That, the organizers and Mr Montgomerie say, is  a turn-out of 30.39%. Well, actually it is not a turn-out of anything since in a real election or referendum we would not (I sincerely hope) have e-mail or text and people would actually have to turn out, though there are those insidious postal votes that have set this country's electoral system back by about 150 years.

Of those, 89.9% (13, 111) voted yes to the question whether they would like to have an IN/OUT referendum. That still tells us nothing about their possible voting intentions if such a referendum did occur or about other people's voting intentions or what will happen when the other side starts producing its propaganda in real earnest while we still witter on about the need for a referendum.

Ian McKenzie, the new Director of the campaign, is delighted. Well, of course, he is. The campaign is apparently functioning and that is all the potential donors want to hear for the time being. As we know, he is not actually in favour of withdrawal. In fact, he would like a referendum to overcome the feeling that somehow our membership does not have popular support. If there is an IN/OUT referendum, on whose side will he or his minions be campaigning?