Gordon Brown and the other leaders of the member countries of The European Union were all smiles at the weekend after agreeing the amending treaty for the running of the EU. In fact this amending treaty is the old constitution, with references to the flag and the anthem (which both exist anyway) removed. The same constitution the people of France and the Netherlands voted to reject, and on which the British people were promised a referendum.

The politicians say that this is an amending treaty and therefore the people have no say, it looks like the constitution, it reads like the constitution and is the constitution. There is disquiet too amongst the people of other countries in the EU, notably amongst the German people, and the Italians. The politicians should remember that the European Union is a club of democratic states and is not a dictatorship. The politicians are supposedly representing the voters of the states they serve. They have no right at all to try to pull the wool over the eyes of the voters they should be representing.

Gordon Brown keeps jabbering on about his red lines; as any law student knows, these can be over-ruled at any time by the other member states or by the European court or by the Commission. He is either being deliberately obtuse or his understanding of the law of the European Union is considerably faulty.

The smiles Mr Brown were somewhat premature because you are going to have a fight to get this through the British Parliament, members of Parliament of all persuasions, including some of your own back bench M.Ps are not happy about the Government reneaging on a manifesto promise to put the European constitution to the vote of the people.