Tony Blair was accused by the Tories of arrogance yesterday after he claimed for the first time that the British people could be persuaded to sign up to the euro.
In previously unpublished comments, the Prime Minister dismissed suggestions that he was leaving it too late to turn around public hostility to the European single currency.
Mr Blair said that if the Government decided to go ahead with a referendum and make a recommendation for joining, the vote could be won.
In an interview with author Robert Harris for the US magazine Talk, he said the electorate "do respond to political leaders who know what they want to do."
The Prime Minister's comments appear to back those of Peter Mandelson, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, who infuriated Gordon Brown, the Chancellor, last week by declaring that manufacturing would continue to suffer if Britain remained outside the euro.
However, Michael Portillo, the shadow chancellor, said Mr Blair was underestimating the views of the British people.
"The Prime Minister has taken a very important new step, revealing that he believes it would be easy to persuade the British public to go into the euro, that all he has to do is give a bit of leadership and we are going to follow.
"I think he overestimates, in a rather arrogant way, his own ability to lead people. I think he underestimates the determination of the moderate majority who wish to keep their own currency, who wish to keep the pound."
Mr Blair's remarks, which were cut from Mr Harris's interview in Talk, were described by Downing St as "wholly unremarkable." But they will hearten the pro-euro lobby simply because the Prime Minister is now on record in stating that a referendum campaign could be won with the full backing of the Government.
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