All clocks set to kick-off

Date: 27/06/1996

Serious efforts were made in Florence to ensure that heads of state and government were not still discussing the Intergovernmental Conference and the state of the economy by kick-off time for England and Spain at Wembley last Saturday.

Major and his Spanish counterpart José-Maria Aznar made a pact in the morning and approached Italy's Foreign Minister Lamberto Dini to ensure that the whole summit was wrapped up in plenty of time. Dini agreed, because Italy understands these things. Word was sent out that both Major and Aznar would hold their final press conferences at 1pm, three hours before the match.

Aznar kept his word, but as the hours ticked past, Major was busy in private meetings. Lunch intervened and Major's press conference finally kicked off at precisely 4pm, in a monumental triumph of bad timing. “He's lucky anyone bothered to turn up at all,” grumbled one irate hack.