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Gordon Brown will sign EU treaty in private D. Hooper, T. Chivers / London Telegraph | December 11, 2007 Gordon Brown has announced that he will travel to Portugal to sign the controversial European Union Reform Treaty. Doubt had been thrown on Mr Brown's attendance at the signing ceremony in Lisbon on Thursday because of his commitment to give evidence to a high-ranking House of Commons committee that morning. On a policy level it would also have meant he missed negotiations between heads of state taking place on the sidelines of the ceremony. But 10 Downing Street said this morning that arrangements have been made for Mr Brown to leave London immediately after the hearing of the Commons Liaison Committee. (Article continues below)
He will miss the official signing ceremony in the morning, but will join fellow EU heads of government at lunch and will sign the treaty then, his spokesman said. The low-profile signing has attracted criticism from anti-constitution campaigners. Neil O'Brien, of the I Want A Referendum campaign, said: "This is a ludicrous attempt to avoid being seen signing up to the treaty. The idea that this is just an accidental diary clash is just not credible. It's not clever politics by Brown either, because it will allow his opponents to accuse him of cowardice again. CLICK ON THE BANNER TO
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