A publisher will make a contribution towards the cost of a party and will handle such burdens as the printing of invitations, but beyond that it is up to the author to find a sure-footed path through the enterprise culture.Almost three years ago, I held a launch party for my anthology The Penguin Book of Interviews, to which I blithely invited 800 guests. The reason for Gordon’s initial refusal was its worry that the name of Sir Denis would conjure up the antediluvian image of the gin drinker as a crotchety old buffer who likes his gin neat and pink. Gordon’s gin is searching for the youthful image Cinzano and Bacardi have enjoyed. An overt association with Sir Denis “would take us back to the dark ages”, said Gordon’s.
Thankfully, common sense has prevailed. Yesterday, a few hours after its refusal became public, the company announced that it would be happy to sponsor the party after all. The U-turn by Gordon’s over the provision of free gin for the launch of Carol Thatcher’s biography of her father, Sir Denis Thatcher, has proved faster and more effective in damage-limitation terms than the Government’s efforts to assuage fears about beef. Instead of exchanging insults in Turin, the European Commission, Britain and its EU partners should seize this opportunity by the horns..

But we have paid faithfully into the CAP for 23 years, mostly for the benefit of Continental and Irish farmers. Brussels wants to spend some of it on large transport projects; Britain wants to give it back to the taxpayers (ie, to put the UK share towards its own tax cut and re-election fund).Europe – not just Britain – faces an agricultural crisis. A special programme should be drawn up to help farmers to get rid of all European cattle over a certain age that could possibly have been exposed to BSE. Brussels should use the creative accountancy for which it is famous to borrow the needed funds from the CAP surpluses expected in future years.Yes, Britain and British farmers would benefit most. There has to be an agreed policy; there have to be available funds. The total amount available for animal disease eradication throughout Europe this year is pounds 53m. The entire pounds 31bn CAP budget for 1996 is under some pressure.It does transpire, however, that Brussels expects CAP reforms and high world food prices to produce an enormous potential surplus – maybe pounds 3bn – in the farm budget over the next three years.

Arguments are already raging about the ownership of this cash. The Cabinet is balking at such a step because of the great cost involved (pounds 1bn at the very minimum). This may, in turn, be because Brussels is reluctant to pay part of the bill.Why? There is plenty of money sloshing around in the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) budget, isn’t there? No, and also yes.It is a misconception that Brussels can simply dole out money to farmers in trouble. But intervention in beef is now much more limited than it used to be (partly, and quite rightly so, at British insistence). Standard EU subsidies will not save the beef industry from ruin and certainly will not restore its good name.Some great propitiatory bonfire of older British cattle – however unscientific – now seems to be demanded as the price of rebuilding consumer confidence. If he is then able to recommend a lifting of the embargo, he might have done more to restore international and domestic confidence in British beef than a simple, unquestioning acceptance of the word of THIS government.But we should expect more from Brussels. At some point, if UK beef prices continue to fall, our farmers will be eligible automatically for EU aid.

What remains of the notorious intervention system – the guarantee to buy up unwanted food if it falls below a certain price – will come into play. This should be an opportunity to suggest to the British people that membership of a Europewide union provides comfort and solidarity, not just free trade and red passports.The EU could help by subjecting the British government’s latest scientific analysis and safeguards (ie, the claim that British beef is now safe) to a rigorous independent investigation, the results of which should be made public That, in essence, is what Mr Fischler proposes. But Europe – if it is serious about persuading Britain to join the club in spirit as well as in form – is in danger of missing an important trick. BSE is shaping up as the greatest British political crisis for many years: a crisis of confidence in the whole apparatus of government. Britain loves to lecture its partners on its scrupulous observation of the European rules and the superiority of our national standards to some Continental standards (take a bow, Michael Portillo).