“When I was young, it grew on me by the minute
That we were outside Europe and should be in it
Now I am old and we are back outside it
I simply can’t abide it.”
This clerihew was sent to me out of the blue by Martin Bell, the celebrated former BBC foreign correspondent who became known as the Man in the White Suit during his 1997-2001 spell in parliament as the independent MP for Tatton.