Then of course the next stage after that is that you would automatically go into voting alliances with people

“Then of course the next stage after that is that you would automatically go into voting alliances with people. “Rather than trying to bring us in, in a sense they’re forcing us out.”That was the message also delivered by Mr Clarke himself last night, when he warned of the threat posed by Mr Hague’s efforts to “steamroller” through views that were hostile to Europe.Earlier, the Clarke camp had circulated a letter sent by Mr Hague to Euro MP Caroline Jackson, in which he ruled out membership of the single currency, under his leadership of the party, for another decade at least.In a calculated rebuff to Mr Clarke – who could not stomach such a repudiation of the carefully-sculpted “wait-and-see” policy on which the Tories fought the recent election – Mr Hague added: “If I were elected leader of the Conservative Party, I would certainly expect every shadow minister to support this policy.”Pointing to the wording of that letter, one Clarke team member said: “Ken could not serve on those terms.”It is also unlikely that Michael Heseltine or any other pro-European MP could join Mr Hague’s team on such terms of abject and unconditional surrender.Mr Clarke said in a speech to the West Oxfordshire Conservative Association, in Witney, last night: “The person elected next week simply will not have a detailed mandate to impose a series of immediate changes to Conservative Party policy on specific issues.”Nevertheless, he said that both Mr Hague and John Redwood were attempting to claim that they had the power to lock the party into a policy of single- currency rejection.But the former chancellor of the Exchequer warned: “Attempts to bind the party in advance to hardline positions which are designed to exclude other arguments on the subject will divide and damage us.”That statement hardened the warning issued by Mr Clarke on Thursday night, when he said: “We divide the party if we regard the leadership election as deciding the key issues before the process [of policy review] has even started.”One of Mr Clarke’s Commons backers said last night that the party was now facing the real prospect of “staged separation”, with a group of up to a dozen pro-Europeans initially defying the party whip and then, if no reconciliation took place, resigning the whip.”That would be the next stage,” the MP said. Under outline plans, the split would start with recurrent revolt against a Euro-sceptic whip, followed by resignation from the party whip, and an eventual alliance with Paddy Ashdown’s Liberal Democrats on the Opposition benches in the Commons.
The threat from Mr Clarke and his moderate Tory colleagues last night brought instant denunciation from the Tory right, with a senior figure saying: “We will not be subject to threats of blackmail. If they want to go, good riddance.”One the other side of the deepening Tory divide, one MP told The Independent that up to a dozen Conservative MPs would eventually be prepared to resign the party whip in the Commons if the new leadership froze out pro-European Tories.”We are beginning the scenario where we separate by stages,” he warned. Everywhere one senses a precisely focused musical mind, a sort of interpretative chivalry, courteous but strong and with an intuitive understanding of Baroque style.
Robert Cowan. The long-running threat of a Tory split, described by moderate MPs as “staged separation”, hardened considerably last night after Kenneth Clarke warned he could not serve as a member of William Hague’s shadow cabinet. Wolf Erichson launched Seon back in the early Seventies, principally to record “the emerging stars of the early music movement”.

The label survived for roughly 10 years and has since enjoyed only a sporadic presence on the domestic CD market, which is something of a pity given the exceptional quality of its recordings. However, Sony Classical has now decided to supplement its own estimable full-price early music label (Vivarte) with low-price reissues of key Seon titles. First releases include choral music under Konrad Ruhland, a bench-mark set of Brandenburg Concertos with Frans Bruggen, and Gustav Leonhardt’s exquisite 1973 recording of Bach’s richly inventive English Suites

Recommended sampling points are legion. Try, for example, the opening flourish of the First Suite’s Prelude, the way it trips into action, easily, elegantly and with absolute control. Or there are the noble Sarabandes (one to each Suite), mostly with fulsome spread chords fanning the main melody line. Leonhardt launches into the Second Suite’s fugal Prelude with unforced enthusiasm, brings a lilting gaiety to its spiralling Gigue and is extraordinarily graceful in the Fourth Suite’s Allemande. I’m not going to pretend that I found Ockeghem’s musical personality and craft instantly distinguishable from those of his composer colleagues, but the excerpts from four of his masses make it easy to understand why he was valued so highly in his time – especially the radiant, effortlessly intricate Credo from the Missa De plus en plus.
Listeners may not want to repeat the total experience too often; but take away the poetry and that still leaves nearly 60 minutes of beautiful music, beautifully sung – and surely that’s enough of a recommendation.Hilliard live recordings can only be obtained mail order (01904 636111).

For Ockeghem is a tribute to the composer rather than a straight recital. The programme includes songs of praise by contemporaries (Lupi, Compere, Busnois), and readings from an extravagantly laudatory memorial poem by Guillaume Cretin. But the Hilliard’s performances certainly have the “live” edge, the odd hint that risks are being taken – the big stress on “invida mors” (hateful death) in Lupi’s Ergone conticuit, for instance – all very refreshing. The unique factor here is that the music was recorded in concert (in association with Radio 3).

If you didn’t know that, would it be possible to guess? Apart from one explosive audience cough and the odd tiny blemish in the singing, there are no giveaway technical mishaps. The booklet notes for this Hilliard Live collection – several pages on historical background and “Tuning Ockeghem” – show how much scholarly spade-work has been done. For years, the 15th-century composer Johannes Ockeghem was one of those “important” historical figures students read about in textbooks, but rarely (if ever) heard Now there is a growing list of recordings. But I wonder if someone from outside their number might have coaxed a warmer and more compliant, a more single-minded, a more personal approach to the slow movements I wonder.. Their engaging account of No 29 is full of charm and surprise (witness the high-wire antics of the horns in the finale). It’s a darkly operatic piece once more (is there a more anxious, searching development in all of Mozart than this first movement?).
Even the high-spirited finale (and just listen to those fiery exchanges between the upper and lower strings) sounds truculent.

Which is not to say that Orpheus don’t know how to enjoy themselves. There are no passengers in this band: the individuality, the personality and profile of their personnel ensures that every part is alive and kicking. Inner-parts leap from the page, the sense of momentum and climax is unerring. Symphony No 40, the popular G minor, is urgent and fearful, the palpitating ostinato in divisi violas at once disturbed and disturbing (how tired and predictable it can sound when carrying too much weight).