LONDON — Little by little, Euroskeptic Tories are softening their rhetoric.

Having given way on the Brexit timetable and with even the most ardent EU opponents acknowledging that Britain will be forced to pay a "divorce bill," Brexiteers now appear to have relaxed about the future of one of British politics' most iconic buildings.

Calls in February for 32 Smith Square — once former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's headquarters and later sold to the EU, who moved in in 2010 and renamed it "Europe House" — to be returned to British ownership as part of Brexit talks have so far gone unheeded and officials on both sides of the negotiations now expect the building to remain the last EU stronghold in London when the U.K. leaves the bloc.

"In the scheme of Brexit it is hard to be excited about one building," said prominent Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg, who in February attracted headlines by calling on the EU to return the building to the Brits, telling the FT that it "would be a wonderful gesture if [European Commission President Jean-Claude] Juncker got to keep the stocks of Château Lafite [in the EU’s shared wine cellar] and in return the EU gave us back 32 Smith Square." Rees-Mogg said this week that he hoped the reference to Lafite made it clear he hadn't been making a serious point.

Former government minister and senior Euroskeptic Tory Norman Tebbit was similarly nonplussed. Despite saying earlier this year that it would be a "nice idea" for the Tories to move back into Europe House, he said this week that it was up to the European Union to do whatever they liked with the building. "They can buy it, sell it, do what they want with it," he said.

Embassy in London

The building, located just a short walk from the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, was the headquarters of the Conservative Party for almost half a century, including during the Thatcher years. It was also the backdrop to some of the party's more troubled times and was nicknamed "Chateau Despair" shortly before the Tories moved out after two landslide election defeats and plotting against two former party leaders, William Hague and Iain Duncan Smith.

The party moved into more modern offices on Victoria Street in 2004, and then to Matthew Parker Street before the 2015 general election.

The historic central London building was jointly bought by the European Parliament and European Commission for £20 million, and refurbished before Eurocrats moved into the building in 2010. It was purchased with the aim of cutting its multimillion pound rent bill in the "medium" term. The building, with a 150 seat conference centre and information office, is currently jointly used by the two institutions. The European Commission has had premises in London since the early 1960s, which the European Parliament shared after 1973.

One senior Whitehall official said the ownership of the building had not come up in Brexit talks so far.

When questioned about the future of Europe House, other individuals familiar with the matter on both the British government and EU side highlighted the need for an EU ambassadorial presence in safe, non-EU countries across the world. British officials say the U.K. will have a "deep and special partnership" with the European Union post Brexit.

Europe House is seen by officials on both sides as a possible location for the EU External Action Service — the EU's diplomatic wing, something hinted at in a British government position paper, published in July, which mentions "the continued presence the EU expects to have in the UK, including for example an EU delegation."

One Tory MP, who is a member of the Brexit supporting European Research Group, said Brexit-backing MPs were now focused on making sure that Brexit happened following the shock general election result which saw Prime Minister Theresa May lose her majority.

“Frankly the EU had a lot more money to spend on it than the Conservative Party did" -- David Campbell-Bannerman

David Campbell-Bannerman, a Tory MEP and another hard-line Brexiteer, said Europe House would actually become "more relevant" after Britain left the European Union.

“We do want to continue friendly working relationships with the EU. In fact it probably becomes more important given there will not be MEPs or UKRep [the United Kingdom Permanent Representation to the European Union], and obviously our presence over there through the Council will be different and diminished."

He added it had been a "true irony" when 32 Smith Square was taken over by the European Union and became Europe House, but the Conservative Party had needed the money and the sale of the asset had helped.

"Frankly the EU had a lot more money to spend on it than the Conservative Party did. Those that knew the building it was pretty average and pretty run down. The EU splashed around a lot of our money on it and it is in a much better state," he said.