All will be forgiven if David Cameron loosens the shackles of Europe Arguably, however, the most significant change is Nick Clegg's evolving views. Support for the European Union is the closest thing the Liberal Democrats have to a religion, and the party's response to Europe has traditionally been simple: say "yes" to everything. But I understand that even the Deputy Prime Minister has accepted that Britain could not sign up to a plan that takes us closer to a federal Europe. Under the new Referendum Act, any such move would be put to a popular vote, and would probably be rejected. Clegg is starting to believe that saving Britain's EU membership means renegotiating and establishing a looser relationship. His condition for this is that any shift away from Europe must be reversible. He is prepared to accept that, at the moment, the eurozone is not a project with which the British public want to be more involved. So he would allow a distancing, as long as Britain could - if it chose - move closer to the EU once the storm has blown itself out. His premise, of course, is that we are witnessing a weird blip in an otherwise smooth path to European prosperity and stability, which Britain could join later. His terms should be acceptable to Conservatives, who believe there will soon be nothing left to belong to. So Europe need not split the Coalition. Both Cameron and Osborne can renegotiate a looser membership, which would not trigger a referendum because no more powers would be passed to Europe. As one Clegg ally puts it, "this is a narrow landing strip" which both parties could use. But it would require much political agility and a willingness to compromise; certain elements in both the Lib Dem and Tory parties would need to be confronted. The Deputy Prime Minister is a committed Europhile, but even he cannot ignore the strength of public opinion. Last November, the European Commission itself conducted the world's largest opinion poll, asking people in every member state what they thought of it all. To the Greeks, the EU had come to mean sado-austerity. To the Italians, it meant having a technocratic government imposed on them, and to the Germans it was about their savings being funnelled into the black hole of Mediterranean deficits. Millions of people had hundreds of reasons to hate the whole shebang. But the poll showed that the people who loathed the EU the most, who trusted it the least, who were most convinced it was heading in the wrong direction, were the British - and by some margin. It is quite a phenomenon. In Westminster, 100 per cent of the political parties say that EU membership is beneficial - a view shared by only 35 per cent of voters. Such a gap cannot be sustained for long in a democracy. Either the old parties adapt, or a new party - such as Ukip - will fill the hole. The extraordinary rise of Ukip, which is now level-pegging with the Lib Dems in the polls, has focused everyone's minds. There are, of course, many Tories who believe that reform is impossible and only complete withdrawal will do. Clegg and Cameron are united in wishing to see those people defeated. Both believe that it always comes down to a debate between (as one Lib Dem puts it) "nutters and sensible people." But the definition of "sensible" is changing rapidly: it no longer includes anyone who would want to take Britain a step closer to a fiscal union suicide pact, which is what the EU looks like doing next. If Cameron gets Europe right, then almost no one will remember his U-turns on pasties or caravans. It could reset the clock on his premiership and unite the Right, even if Clegg's collusion may split the Lib Dems. Four years ago, William Hague said that Britain was already too close to Europe, and added, cryptically, that he "would not let matters rest there." He may finally get the chance to show us what he meant. Fraser Nelson is the Editor of 'The Spectator