In tomorrow's Sunday Telegraph, I try to explain why Peter Mandelson, of all people, is propping Gordon Brown in place at a terrible cost to Labour. It's all about keeping David Cameron out of office until after the Irish referendum. You can read my piece here. Witness, once again, the EU's hideous strength: its tendency, not just to be undemocratic within its own structures, but to...

Ireland has voted to approve the Lisbon Treaty in the re-run of the referendum that led to the treaty's rejection last year. In a vote tainted by irregularities and illegalities - such as blatant breaches of Irish referendum rules requiring balanced media coverage and no public money to be used for either side - the result this time was a 67% 'Yes' vote. While it's hard to beli...

The Second Irish Referendum: the Irish people have spoken, yes, but in the voice of someone put into a headlock by far more powerful forces.

Haggling starts over EU jobs after Irish referendum

Votes are counted after a crucial second Irish referendum on the EU's Lisbon Treaty, which exit polls suggest will be accepted.

That the Irish referendum result will be announced on Saturday afternoon is not, to put it mildly, ideal for the Tories. If as expected the Irish vote yes, it will be almost certain that the Lisbon treaty will be ratified by the time of the next election (the Czech delay is not expected to last much past December). This raises the question of what the Tories’ deliberately ambiguous commitmen...

With polls pointing to a Yes vote in Friday's Irish referendum on the European Union's Lisbon treaty, the question is whether the charter's fate hangs less on a windswept island off than on a landlocked country at Europe's centre – the Czech Republic

The EU has no backup plan if the Lisbon Treaty fails to be ratified, experts and sources from the European institutions told EurActiv. Next Friday's Irish referendum is seen as make-or-break time, but so is a key Czech Senate decision due on Tuesday (29 September).

The FT’s Brussels blog argues that the Irish referendum on the Lisbon Treaty “is not the only cloud on the EU’s horizon.” It reports that, even if Ireland votes Yes, “there remain considerable doubts over when Václav Klaus, the Czech president, will append his signature to the Lisbon treaty, allowing it to take force.

The Popular Alliance urges those able to vote on the Lisbon Treaty referendum to seriously consider the implications of saying yes.  (1) You are overturning a vote less than two years old that gave the wrong answer to the EU. The EU keep plugging away till they get the right vote. Once you say yes they will not let you back down or have another referendum. (2) You are the only country whose c...