Interview: Kenneth Clarke

As someone who has supported Europe's long march to economic and monetary union, how do you rate its achievements in the six years since its introduction?

It has been a technical success. The ECB and authorities have successfully established a working currency and the euro is on its way to being the world's second reserve currency, which some of its advocates said was very important - though to me as a politician it always seemed a mixed blessing. One of the main arguments to me was that it