Expect to hear more Tories making this argument

So I mentioned a little while ago that we're starting to see some response from what we're going to term the "realist right" to the idea that Britain could be drifting towards leaving the European Union.

There was the Economist article last week citing the likely costs of leaving the EU and now (well five days ago) we have Damian Green calling out the "free market only" position as a fantasy.

Crucially he points out that the reason why it's a fantasy is that any change in the arrangement would require the agreement of the other EU states. If this comment from Francois Hollande is any indication, that's not going to happen.

It's looking more and more like the key decision on whether Britain will remain in the EU will be made by Angela Merkel. She'll have to determine what level of concession Germany would be prepared to accept to allow David Cameron to save face and secure a "renegotiation" in return for keeping a potential pro-austerity ally in the EU.

For David Cameron's part he needs to lower expectations for what a potential renegotiation could secure so that what he manages to eventually wring out doesn't seem like a complete surrender. Killing off the idea that Britain can reduce it's EU membership to the single market alone is the first step in that process.