For those of our readers who want to read the Prime Minister's speech in full, here is the link. You might wish to skip numerous paragraphs. One has to admit sorrowfully that, despite getting the best education this country can provide, Mr Cameron's knowledge of European and even British history is shaky.

Let us pass on to other matters. The biggest one is the tentative, for it is no more than that, promise of a referendum in 2017, assuming the Conservatives win the 2015 election and conditional, or maybe not, on some renegotiations and repatriation of powers.

This is a little difficult for, as Mary-Ellen Synon points out trenchantly in the Spectator, as things stand there is no method whereby powers can be repatriated. That includes fisheries. We cannot negotiate them back. We can, however, announce that we are activating Article 50 of the Treaties, and negotiate a new deal on the basis of that. This, the Prime Minister does not seem to want to do because, as he says himself, his preference is to stay inside the EU.