Kenneth Clarke: Conservative Eurosceptics are undermining Cameron's attempt at securing EU deal for Britain

Clarke criticised the sceptics, saying they are acting against 'the national interest' as they try to push the UK towards the EU exit door

Kenneth Clarke blames the feuding about immigration on ministers’ ‘entourages’ (PA Wire)

Kenneth Clarke has accused Conservative Eurosceptics of undermining David Cameron’s attempts to secure a better EU deal for Britain by constantly “moving the goalposts” and ratcheting up their demands.

The prominent pro-European criticised the “gleeful defeatism” of the sceptics, saying they are acting against “the national interest” as they try to push the UK towards the EU exit door.

The former Chancellor’s attack came in an article for The Independent to mark the second anniversary of Mr Cameron’s landmark Bloomberg speech in which he promised an in/out referendum in 2017 if he remains in power.

Kenneth Clarke: Eurosceptics are working against British interests

Mr Clarke said: “For those who want out, Brexit [British exit] remains an end in itself, regardless of what is in the interest of our society, in terms of prosperity, security and influence on the wider world stage…. They must not be allowed to colonise all other opinion, to dominate the entire European debate with their gleeful defeatism.”

He added: “If we are honest about our desire of striving for a better Europe, of which we still want to be part, we must negotiate for it and celebrate progress when it occurs. We must resist hard-line Eurosceptic pressure to move the goalposts and to issue ultimatums. The serious work in the national interest is to deliver the Bloomberg speech demands.”

Mr Clarke is co-president of the cross-party British Influence group, which argues that many of Mr Cameron’s 2013 demands are being met – such as completing the single market and ending “ever-closer union.”

The group criticised Eurosceptics who welcomed the speech at the time for pocketing the gains since and making new demands such as an end to the free movement of people. It is also worried the Prime Minister is not trumpeting his gains for fear of upsetting the sceptics.

Peter Wilding, the director of British Influence, said: “Two years on from Bloomberg, the Eurosceptics who agreed with Cameron's demands then are no longer satisfied now. Despite the PM's success they keep pushing him into ever more extreme positions, making it less likely that he will win his negotiation. These doom merchants seem to have no interest in backing Britain. Those who stand by Cameron’s call for ‘a better deal for Britain’ and a ‘better deal for Europe too’, should hail the progress the UK has already made. But how can they if they are not told the good news by their own PM? This is the British success that dare not speak its name.”

Eurosceptics rejected the charge of inconsistency. Bernard Jenkin, a Tory MP, said: “I have been completely consistent. We have to underline the importance of national parliaments in the renegotiation. The European Commission and some member states still show no sign of understanding that.”

Daniel Hannan, a Tory MEP who would vote to leave the EU in a referendum, said the changes sought by Mr Cameron “would not really alter the fundamentals.” He insisted: “I have not changed my mind at all.”

On Tuesday Douglas Alexander, the shadow Foreign Secretary, will say in Paris that a Labour government would “review, repair and reset” Britain’s relationship with the EU. He will accuse Mr Cameron of presiding over “the most significant decline in British influence in Europe in a generation.”