Conversation with him was a bit like boarding a spinning carousel you got the impression he had started before you arrived and you had

Conversation with him was a bit like boarding a spinning carousel; you got the impression he had started before you arrived and you had to keep your wits running to jump aboard.. It won't have any practical effect It's not necessary It's not even grammatical. So why would Prime Minister Blair sign the European Social Chapter? Well, we are all in favour of workers being treated decently, aren't we? And against ruthless capitalists in top hats undercutting each other by grinding down the workers? But when it comes to what is actually in the Social Chapter, we are alarmingly vague. Something to do with the harmonisation of milk, honey and apple pie production and the Promotion of Motherhood directive, isn't it? It might as well be. We can reveal that The Independent has obtained a copy of the actual document. It is only two pages long, but crude attempts have been made to keep its contents secret by use of polysyllabic abstractions, cross- references and dodgy translations.

This linguistic monument to the remoteness of the European Union from its peoples is, undoubtedly, one of the central issues of the coming election campaign - if only because no one can deny that it represents one of the few remaining differences between Tony Blair and John Major. One will sign it, by 1 January next year, and the other will not - ever. So we set our team of code-crackers and economic analysts on the task of working out what it all means. The fruits of their labours take the form of the first of a series of election briefings, on page 7 today. And the conclusion is that the Social Chapter does matter - not so much for what it contains, but for what the parties' response to it says about their position on the vital questions of economic success and jobs creation.The trouble with the document itself is that much of it is platitudinous waffle.

The EU "shall support and complement the activities of the Member States in", for example, "the information and consultation of workers". That might not get past a self-respecting sub-editor, but there is otherwise little to complain of in its import. Companies tend to do better when employees feel they are part of the enterprise, and there is nothing wrong with common rules across Europe as long as they lead to more information and consultation rather than less.The awkward bit for Mr Blair is the next clause, about supporting and complementing in the field of "working conditions". That, as the small- printy obsessives at Conservative HQ point out, could mean anything. And this "support" can come in the form of measures which could be imposed on Britain against the wishes of its government. Hence the Labour leader's slipperiness on the issue.The paradox is that Mr Blair has been saved because Mr Major has won the argument.