Geoff Hoon, the rather pointless British “Minister for Europe,” was wandering round the Strasburg Parliament in small circles yesterday. Every few seconds he looked at his Blackberry, obviously desperate that somebody wanted to get hold of him. They didn’t. A veteran hack, one Jim Gibbons who remembered him as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP), seeing his lack of stuff to do, hailed him,
“Geoff, what are you doing?”
Hoon’s response was priceless,
“Absolutely nothing, just being here.”

It appears his press team were desperate for him not to be interviewed turning down requests left, right and center. However later in the afternoon he was spotted mooching in the big courtyard by two Scottish TV types. They also hailed him, asking him what he was doing.
“Oh just taking some air,” was his response.
They asked for an interview and he delightedly gave them a few minutes.

Something he did reveal to one MEP, however, is that the Foreign Office is drawing up an official contribution to the Future of Europe debate (i.e. what to do about the European Constitution), that we expect to be published before Christmas. The general tone of the document appears to be get everything done that doesn’t need an IGC (Intergovernmental Conference) and then put together a “slim” version of the Constitution that can be passed through Parliament without a referendum being required.

The British government’s position would be followed first by Nicolas Sarkozy, the French presidential frontrunner of the Right, then by Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, in the run up to the big shindig they are planning on 25th March in Berlin to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Rome.