WILLIAM HAGUE faced embarrassment last night when one of his most senior party members compared the European vision of Gerhard Schröder, the German Chancellor, to Hitler’s personal manifesto and said Labour’s tactics on Europe were reminiscent of the Nazis.

Sir Peter Tapsell, who nominated Mr Hague for the Tory leadership in 1997, predicted that the British people would rise in an “explosion of rage” against the European Union.

He listed Napoleon, Bismarck and Hitler as leaders in the past who had proposed a European single currency and said that Tony Blair’s “prepare and decide” policy on the euro was akin to Goebbels’s “Big Lie” propaganda strategy. Calling for a renegotiation of Britain’s relationship with Europe, Sir Peter said: “We may not have studied Hitler’s Mein Kampf in time but, by heaven, there is no excuse for us not studying the Schröder Plan now.

“You may be sure that the currency section of Dr Goebbels’ Guide to Falsehood is already well thumbed by the Labour spin-doctors.”

He spoke out as a group of Tory MPs told The Times that they would be campaigning on a platform of never accepting the single currency. Their stance goes against party policy, which is to oppose the euro for the duration of the next Parliament.

Many, however, have made pledges to the electorate that they will not accept the euro regardless of party policy. Campaign leaflets for John Bercow, a Tory frontbencher, read: “I have always supported the pound and I always will do so.”

Julian Lewis, who is seeking re-election in New Forest East, said: “I’m the only candidate from a serious party promising never to vote for a single European currency.”

Sir Peter’s comments were particularly embarrassing for Mr Hague, who has just recovered from the “mongrel race” remarks of the rebel MP John Townend.

In an address in the Louth and Horncastle constituency where he is seeking re-election, Sir Peter repeatedly invoked the Second World War as he said that the English way of life was under threat from Europe.

“From Brussels and Bonn and Berlin the present generation of Britons face again the threat of a foreign and alien sovereignty which threatens our way of life, our commerce and our culture,” he said.

He quoted a German Finance Minister who he said had told him that “the German people will always follow strong leadership”.

Sir Peter said: “That of course has been the continuing tragedy of their history.”

Sir Peter took issue with Mr Hague’s policy of opposing the euro only for the duration of the next Parliament, saying: “I shall never vote to join a single European currency or a federal Europe.” Sir Peter also attacked French, German and “Roman law” and the European Court of Human Rights. He said that English freedom was “under constant threat from the decisions of foreign judges, some of whom are not even learned in their own law”.

Britons, like the Basques and the Kurds, would acquire “deep feelings of outrage which finds expression in violence” if they lost their currency, he said.

Sir Peter’s remarks were condemned by other senior Conservatives. Ian Taylor, who is standing for re-election in Tory MP for Esher and who is chairman-elect of the European Movement, a pro-EU pressure group, said: “This sort of anti-European rant discredits the Conservatives.

“We need friends on the Continent if we are to influence the future of the Union, in which the Tory party wishes to stay.”

Douglas Alexander, Labour’s election campaign coordinator, described Sir Peter’s speech as odious and said: “This shows the extremism at the heart of the Tory party.”