William Hague has just killed off any hopes for future Turkish accession to the EU with his insistence that there will have to be a referendum on future EU Treaty change. This is worse than Cameron’s gaffe on China’s nuclear power status. It is a slap in the face for Turkey and for hopes of British influence in a key region of the world.
Denis MacShane, former Europe Minister, Rotherham Labour candidate

As with Cameron’s performance in the leaders’ debate, Hague seems to forget what his party’s broad narrative is for this campaign and spoke only in narrow terms and without a defining vision for Britain’s role in the world. Hague continued to show that the Tories remain driven by dogma on Europe and seem to have developed an ill-judged understanding of China. David Miliband by contrast said some very welcome things on Iraq and Afghanistan as well as explaining how Labour’s foreign policy is internationalist in an interdependent and multilateral world.
Brian Duggan, international Officer, Young Fabians