Brown faces rebellion of 120 MPs

According to this morning's Telegraph, Gordon Brown is facing hs first rebellion by the back benches over the new EU Treaty which, apart from the Government, everyone else in the EU is acknowledging is pretty much the same treaty that was rejected by the French and Dutch.

According to Ian Davidson, a Scottish Labour MP, there are 120 MPs on the side of the rebellion, which is calling for large changes to be negotiated to the text or for a referendum. The Telegrpah reports Davidson saying,

"On the basis of the soundings and conversations I have had with colleagues, the support for a referendum is similar to last time round when well over 120 Labour MPs publicly or privately backed a referendum,"

Apparently the number s may even include senior members of the Government. Obviously the possibility of seeing Brown defeated by his party is enjoyable, but personally I think it's good to see the Parliamentary Labour Party being honest about its feeling towards the EU after ten years of pretending to be united.

I note that there remains the amusing fact that opposition on the left toward the EU is because they tend to think of it as a big capitalist club, whilst opposition on the right sees it as a largely socialist project. Weird huh? I bet Tom Watson must be busy on the phone at the moment.

Update: I see the Mail reckons the Government is hoping that 2005 will be repeated and some other EU country will reject the treaty and save us the hassle.