The opinions expressed by John Blunt are not necessarily those of this newspaper

TONY Blair has promised to "listen and reflect" upon the lessons of the European elections, which were boycotted by three quarters of voters and used by most of the rest to say where they can stick the euro.

But he need look no further than Tory leader William Hague's says-it-all slogan of 'In Europe, but not run by Europe' if he is wondering in what direction to turn next.

Young William is credited with having had a clever strategy in saying 'No' to the euro - but not 'Never,' mark you - and to still closer ties with the EU.

But only a person in a coma could have failed to see that most people in this country will put up with 'Europe' as a trading partnership, but are distinctly and rightly cool towards the corrupt and wasteful EU regime .

A regime with its talking-shop parliament full of deadbeats, has-beens, leftie dreamers and snouts-in-trough expenses-fiddlers and of the impudence of the lot of them continually telling us what to do with their daft directives on everything from nappies for seaside donkeys to the curvature of cucumbers and bananas.

All the Tories did to come out on top was to steer their policy at this clearly-discernible sentiment - while Labour, having steered away from it, mistakenly tried to ignore it.

But given his self-belief - and the abysmal turnout giving him an excuse to believe the voters have not really spoken - the Prime Minister may still be confident that he knows better than the people and will continue to spend millions on preparations for ditching the pound.

In which case, I look forward to him trying to sell the euro at the next general election - when last week's stay-aways will be turning out in droves to let him know what they think.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.