Lightweight Cameron will keep the UK in EU

PICTURE yourself. You have just spotted the car of your dreams in the local showroom. No more bangers without street cred for you.

But you are sensible – you have the hefty deposit; you can just afford the repayments. But there is a problem.

The car is a bit too expensive, especially as it does not have exactly the features you always wanted.

Do you: (a) tell the salesman you must have the car under any circumstances; or, (b) let him know that if you don’t get those desirable features and a price reduction you will walk away from the deal?

Well, if you are David Cameron, negotiating not with a car salesman but with the EU, you would choose strategy (a) No, really; Mr Cameron has assured the EU that whatever it throws at us, he will keep the UK in the EU.

As a consequence the EU does not take seriously Mr Cameron’s pleas for concessions for the UK.

And nor should we. In negotiations a willingness to walk away if the outcome turns sour is essential. This is such a basic rule that we are left with an uncomfortable choice: either Mr Cameron and his advisers are spectacularly incompetent, or their re-negotiations with the EU are merely a pretence.

Unfortunately Mr Cameron all too often appears to be an intellectually lightweight version of Edward Heath whose EU deceptions are now notorious.