The Sun reacted to Gordon Brown’s speech in their usual unmatched style and wit. This “Dad’s Army” graphic says it all.

In case you can’t read it, the “What They Said” section reads:-

‘The substance of the Constitution is preserved. That is a fact.’ Angela Merkel, German Chancellor.

‘We have not let a single substantial point of the Constitutional Treaty go. This is a project of foundational character, a treaty for a new Europe.’ Jose Zapatero, Spanish PM.

’90 per cent of it is still there. These changes haven’t made any dramatic changes to the substance of what was agreed back in 2004.’ Bertie Ahern, Irish Taoiseach.

‘Only cosmetic changes were made and the basic document remains the same.’ Vaclav Klaus, Czech President.

‘There’s nothing from the original institutional package that has been changed.’ Astrid Thars, Finnish Europe Minister.

‘The good thing is…that all of the symbolic elements have gone, and that which really matters – the core – is left.’ Anders Fogh Rassmusen, Danish PM.

‘The original treaty for a Constitution was maintained in substance.’ Austrian Government website.

‘The new treaty takes up the most important elements of the constitutional project.’
Guy Verhofstadt, Belgian PM.

Despite this, Gordon Brown insists that the treaty is very different and is prepared to break his manifesto commitment by denying the British people a chance to have their say in a referendum. He insists that his red herrings lines were met. These happen to be the same red lines that were drawn in the original constitutional negotiations.

At the time of writing, 99,332 people have signed up to the Daily Telegraph petition demanding a referendum on the EU Constitution Treaty. You can join them here.

7,683 have joined in with the Sun’s version here.