Tory Civil War

Although the consequences could be profound, I find it hilarious that the Conservatives are tearing themselves apart over Europe as they did in the 1990s. To afford them the sobriquet ‘Eurosceptic’ is deeply dishonest, as scepticism implies the involvement of rationality whereas they are howling at the moon. If they were rational they would not be repeating the mistakes of the 1990s. The reason why the Labour Party won such huge majorities in 1997 and 2001 was thanks in large part to the Tories being hopelessly riven by infighting (starting with the Maastricht rebels in 1993) in ’97 (despite an improving economy) and reducing themselves to a single-issue party (over the Euro) in ’01. The EU-phobes (for what that is strictly what they are) remind me of the dogs in the Pixar film Up! who lose sense of everything else when they think a squirrel (substitute: ‘EU’) is in the vicinity. After a calamitous distraction, one canine laments, “I hate squirrels.”


The mania of Peter Bone(head) and John Baron(s Court Theatre) is so great they arguably should be sectioned. They are prepared to wreck not just the country but their own party as well, just to gratify their own febrile desires. Malcolm Rifkind rightly scolded them on the Today programme like the children they are. And who from outside the parliamentary party are carping? Nigel Lawson who took the UK into the ultimately disastrous Exchange Rate Mechanism and who is now a shill for any passing corporate interest. Norman Lamont, chancellor when Black Wednesday hit in 1992. And then there is Michael Portillo. One of Major’s bastards, he is now indirectly encouraging the parliamentary party to undermine David Cameron when he couldn’t even get it to support his leadership bid in 2001. These three, if they ever did, now have no idea how to be constructive, just destructive.

The intellectual poverty of their position is that they claim to be Atlanticist, trying to act in the USA’s interests, but Washington D.C. firmly wants the UK to remain as a member of the EU and not on the sidelines either. Indeed, that is where David Cameron is now But you can’t reason with those with liquid on the brain (there must have been many careless nannies in the past). Gavin Barwell, PPS to the Cabinet turncoat Michael Gove, argues that it is of vital importance that the electorate know that politicians keep their promises and this is why he will vote in favour of the no-hope amendment criticising the Queen’s Speech for not having a ‘paving law’ for a referendum in 2017 (Tories still can’t comprehend that they didn’t win in 2010); yet if the public distrust politicians as Barwell says they do, why should they trust him just because he casts a vote? It has exactly the same value as David Cameron’s promise – either they trusted him before and will continue to do so or they will continue to distrust him no matter what he does. Barwell, being inside the Westminster bubble doesn’t understand this, or does he understand that he is trying to convince himself why he is voting against his own Government and Tory high command. Michael Gove must love having such a dullard to dazzle all the time.

The comments from Gove and, unusually, from the usually reliable Phillip Hammond are not missteps where they let their tongues run away with them. They are positioning themselves for the post-Cameron era. With Boris ‘the Animal’ Johnson still the Prince Across the Water, Gove and Hammond must fancy their chances against the derided George Osborne.

And as for the frothers demanding a referendum before 2015 and before negotiations have begun in earnest, if they the public votes to stay in the EU, then Cameron has lost a bargaining chip. Demagogues, though, don’t understand nuances – everything is black and white to them They see the EU as a negative and if Cameron succeeds, it will be for them slightly less negative but still a negative. Cameron’s guff about ‘clawing back powers’ as if they need to be prised from the bunched fingers of Brussels (I wonder how many people’s aversion to sprouts has affected their attitude to all things EU?) does not help his cause. Does he not understand the dangers of appeasement (to his foaming, head-banging backbenchers). Marx’s aphorism that history repeats itself, first time as tragedy, second time as farce could be coming true.

I admit freely that I believe that the UK is better in the EU and better together (the SNP would gain a massive boost to their indepence plans if the UK left the EU).  If this country did leave, it would not be the end of the world but very disappointing as we decline more quickly than before in importance while having to apply all the EU rules in order to trade with the bloc, without having a say in their formulation.  The days of Europe ruling the world is over and Britain's future, if it is not to be totally obsolete, is between being a servant of the USA (like Puerto Rico) or a partner in Europe.  Personally, I prefer equality.  The Commonwealth would be granite-like in rejecting a resurrection of 'imperial preference' because the other members did not benefit from it when it was in place (Richard Lambert, the former Director-General of the CBI, obliterated Lord Lawson's foolish fantasies).  Nor do we have a sovereign wealth fund like Norway because Margaret Thatcher frittered it all the North Sea oil wealth away on tax cuts to get herself re-elected.

The Daily Telegraph understands the electoral danger that it has helped bring about with very pro-UKIP stories, but after so comprehensively poisoning the well of EU debate with the other members of the right-wing press (who fail to see the peril to the Tories), it may be too late. And even then they can’t help themselves, dismissing Rifkind as a ‘former Cabinet minister under Margaret Thatcher’ with an unspoken portfolio, rather than Foreign Secretary under John Major, as if they are implying he is a relic of the past. Neverthless, they wheel out Bojo to say that leaving the EU wouldn’t solve everything and there are other pressing matters, something their editorial also emphasises. Rarely does the EU top the priorities of more than three per cent of the populace. It’s the economy, stupid, as Bill Clinton remarked and never could that saying be more appropriate to the EU-phobes.