Heavyweights prove lightweight in debate over Europe

These two political heavyweights are leading the charge for the two sides in the Brexit debate but both were lacklustre, spouting out the same old arguments.

Lord Lawson, 83, showed his age, failing to put together a cohesive argument and must have left the 90 Tory MPs who desperately want to leave the EU wondering who can lead their campaign.

The stage is open for UKIP’s Nigel Farage to take the lead – something that no self-respecting Tory MP would want.

Following the blow UKIP suffered at the last General Election, the last thing these 90 Tory MPs want is for voters to lose faith in their ability to put up a decent front man to lead the campaign to exit Europe.

Lord Mandelson also failed to put into words what Prime Minister David Cameron needs to achieve to appease his Eurosceptics.

Any hopes of getting the younger generation interested in this debate are fading fast.

In sharp contrast David Miliband spoke passionately about the need to stay in Europe and be part of the decision-making process rather than just get the decisions made for us.

Mr Miliband pointed out that the cost of being in the EU is around £1.10 per person per week.

“It’s much better to be in there writing the rules rather than get the rules sent to you at the end. That’s what Norway gets – they get sent the rules at the end and it costs them more per person.”

Mr Miliband spoke (without notes and without forgetting anything, unlike hapless brother Ed) about his current work trying to find a solution to the refugee crisis.

​As president and CEO of the International Rescue Committee, he oversees the agency’s humanitarian relief operations in more than 30 war-affected countries.

Everyone attending the IoD conference at the Royal Albert Hall was left in no doubt that here was a man who could hold his head up high in a meeting with Barack Obama or Angela Merkel – something that every self-respecting Briton expects of their Prime Minister.

Strangely, there was no mention of new Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn in any of the speeches.

In a private paper, Lord Mandelson recently said: “In choosing Corbyn instead of Ed Miliband, the general public now feel we are just putting two fingers up to them, exchanging one loser for an even worse one. We cannot be elected with Corbyn as leader.

“Nobody will replace him, though, until he demonstrates to the party his unelectability at the polls.”

You have to wonder whether Labour has already consigned Mr Corbyn to the same trash can as former Labour leader Michael Foot, the man whose nickname was “Worzel Gummidge”.

David Miliband is making all the right noises – appealing to business leaders and showing he can run a major, global humanitarian agency – to make a comeback ahead of the next General Election.

The Eurosceptics need to find new blood if they are to make an impact on the EU referendum.

They could do worse than look to London Mayor hopeful Zac Goldsmith.

Retail commentators are wondering why Morrisons’ CEO David Potts has stumped up cash to buy shares in the beleaguered Bradford-based firm whilst his counterpart at Tesco, Dave Lewis, hasn’t spent a penny.

There are claims that Mr Lewis does not share Mr Pott’s confidence in the future of his supermarket.

Yet Mr Lewis made the reasons clear yesterday.

Apparently he would love to buy shares in Tesco, but it would amount to insider trading as he knows too much about the supermarket’s future plans and progress.

Time will tell if this was a good or bad thing for Mr Lewis.