Guardian: British Conservative leaders clash over Britain's relations with European Union - by Nicolas Watt

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British Conservative leaders clash over Britain's relations with European Union - by Nicolas Watt

Tory divisions over Europe were laid bare today when Boris Johnson and Kenneth Clarke, the party's two most popular figures, clashed over Britain's relations with the EU. Adding to the irritation at senior levels of the party that Europe is once again dominating a Tory conference – in the wake of the Yes vote in Ireland on the Lisbon treaty – Clarke and Johnson offered opposing visions. Johnson, who first made his name as a Eurosceptic journalist in Brussels in the early 90s, pledged to fight plans by the European commission to tighten the regulation of financial markets. Meanwhile, Clarke told the conference fringe that Britain and the US are in no position to offer lectures to the French and Germans after the "catastrophic failure" of financial regulation.

Clarke challenged Johnson a few hours later when he told the pro-European Conservative Europe Group that Britain had to be careful about lecturing its European partners about regulation: "We must avoid British arrogance in going along and saying to the French and Germans that we are the only people who understand about the regulation of financial markets. "British regulation of financial markets and American regulation of financial markets was a catastrophic failure. So you can understand French and German and others' reluctance to have people from the City of London coming round and explaining how you should regulate financial markets."