One word tells entire story

Date: 06/06/1996

The beef war has denied readers of Belgium's De Standaard newspaper the wise words of British Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind.

Rifkind had penned a piece for publication on the UK's role in Europe, an eloquent analysis of a nation working closely within the EU which was completed before Prime Minister John Major announced his policy of non-cooperation because of the continuing ban on beef trade.

By the time the British veto started hitting agreements on everything from the life of ornamental plants to the minimum length of widgets, the piece had still not been published. This was just as well, because the Foreign Office then decided that a subtle change should be made to the text to reflect the latest thinking. Thus Her Majesty's ambassador to Belgium Sir John Gray was tasked to contact De Standaard and ask them to delete a reference to the UK's EU “partners” and use instead the more neutral term “member states”.

The folk at De Standaard have got their news priorities right - they decided the requested change to Rifkind's article was a strong story and promptly published a prominent piece about it on the front page.

And what of the foreign secretary's considered view on the UK's place in Europe? It has yet to see the light of day.