John Redwood: Come and join our campaign to save the pound

At first sight, Iain Duncan Smith's view that the Conservative leadership should not hog the limelight come the referendum on the euro looks like a strange call. We know that the overwhelming majority of Conservative activists are desperate to keep the pound. We know that if Tony Blair dares and loses, it is the effective end of his premiership. He may try to limp on, but his administration will then have as much credibility as John Major's did after the rushed exit from the exchange rate mechanism.

Where is the killer instinct, they will cry? Has the Conservative party gone soft on Europe? European monetary union destroyed the last Conservative government, so why not help it destroy this Labour one?

Knowing Iain, I can assure you that he has not become a closet supporter of the euro. The party chairman was soon on the radio to reassure us come the referendum Conservatives will be there in force. Dominic Cummings, the strategist, had gone over the top in his remarks to this newspaper. Iain has no inner voice saying: "Beware, this may be inevitable." Instead, there is a shrewd grasp of the reality of the referendum. It will take more than Conservative votes to win it. The campaign needs to be fronted by voices and faces that appeal to hardened Labour and Liberal Democrat voters who are keen to keep the pound.

Dare the Prime Minister now make a move to abolish the pound? So soon after a joyous celebration of Britishness it would be a brave man who put his job on the line in defence of some foreign money. He must have seen the research, which shows that so far, since the euro took flesh and metal, British opinion has if anything turned against it even more. The polls in Germany show the German public are more against it than they were before they got it. Prices have gone up in euroland as salesmen have rounded things up a tidy few cents to smooth the introduction of the new coinage. Wasn't that the same when we decimalised here in the UK? Many of the older voters, the people who are most likely to vote, will remember and take heed.

The Government is constantly testing the water. It now believes that when British people go abroad on their holidays, they will return full of the joys of monetary union. They hope they will leave their plastic cards behind and go with wallets stuffed full of euros. A few days later they will with all their heart shout "Eureka", announcing their conversion to monetary union.

More likely, the Chancellor will mysteriously conclude that the five economic tests have been passed, placing the Prime Minister in an impossible position. Gordon Brown would be the immediate winner from a botched referendum campaign by Tony Blair, and the Leader of the Opposition's chance would come later. There is only one thing worse for the Prime Minister than Gordon Brown saying the tests have not yet been met, and that is Gordon Brown saying they have been met – "Over to you Prime Minister to make the political judgement about the euro referendum!"

Who then should play in the Say No campaign concert, if the Conservative front bench is to leave the stage free? Step forward moderate, well-mannered Labour and Liberal spokesmen who want to keep some democracy in these islands. It is time for Frank Field and Kate Hoey, and for any Liberal Democrat who sees the advantages of jumping aboard the save-the-pound bandwagon. It's time for the voices of business and democracy in the pressure and lobby groups to dance a jig. It's as near as you can get in British politics to campaigning for the flag and country. Many of the million people who turned out for the Queen on The Mall will want to keep her head on British banknotes.

The No campaign will have all the best tunes. We don't need to say Gordon's economic management is wonderful in order to defend the idea that decisions made about our prosperity should be made democratically in Britain, not bureaucratically in Frankfurt.

Some said London would cease to be a great financial centre if we stayed out of the euro. It still is, despite Labour keeping us out.

Most agree that joining the single currency means having the wrong interest rates for national conditions. If we do not have the same levels of unemployment, the same pattern of overseas trade and the same rate of inflation as the euroland area, there will always be a big economic danger in sharing the same exchange and interest rate.

The Conservative leadership will have an important job to make sure that the big majority of Conservatives who want to keep the pound do vote. We need other stars to sing our catchy melodies on the national platform. This referendum will be about the struggle between Tony and Gordon. Above all it is up to Labour and Liberal Democrat supporters who want to keep democracy in these islands to go out and vote.

That's why we need a cross-party coalition of all the talents to appeal to everyone who thinks that the UK, as the world's fourth largest economy, is big and grown up enough to run its own currency. Saving the pound should be as popular as the jubilee.

The author is the Conservative MP for Wokingham