I read this article by Peter Oborne and felt more or less in sympathy with it until I came to this clanger:
“But this shift, while of long-term significance, has been dwarfed by the most astonishing development of all: the apparent ending of the 20-year Tory civil war on Europe. Last weekend, David Cameron opened the way for a sharp increase in our budget contributions to Brussels, while giving the green light for a new treaty to save the eurozone. On Monday, he announced a new era of defence co-operation with France. The Prime Minister has developed an easy, relaxed and mature relationship with both President Sarkozy and Chancellor Merkel. Until very recently indeed, there would have been uproar had a Tory leader countenanced any of this. Last week, there was scarcely any reaction on Conservative benches. The spectre of Europe, which has engulfed the Tories since the assassination of Margaret Thatcher exactly 20 years ago, may have been laid to rest.”
That paragraph is written in a tone of approval. Now, unless I have missed something, wasn’t Mr Oborne the man who wrote a book a few years ago condemning the rise of a political class that tended to associate its own material interests with those of the country? I remember at the time pointing out that Oborne failed to give due weight to the significance of the European Union in all this. Well, now it appears he has become a sort of cheerleader for Britain giving ever greater sums of money to countries determined to pursue wrongheaded economic policies.
Well, it was nice knowing you, Peter.
I see that EU Referendum thinks as I do.
Often it seems policies and outcomes are achieved against what might have been considered common sense or a desirable outcome.
The latest sideways slide of Cameron further and more inexorably into the EU is another of these occasions.
A unified Europe is obviously a policy of the ruling elite, established and decided, that nothing, but nothing, is going to be allowed to derail.
This latest “Tory” government is not just a compromise with necessary political policies and forces taken on in order to survive.
It is and was a party that would appear to have deliberately reduced their huge majority, their massive electoral lead, so that they were “forced” to take on board people and policies ‘really against their true desires’, so that they could give away all their Tory principles and retain some credibility among the gullible.
It would, indeed, appear to be a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
The political method of creating disasters by sleight of hand and then looking glum and innocent and saying: “Oh dear, what ARE we going to do now,” seems to be on the rise and becoming accepted as the norm.
Experience tells us that integration into the EU goes slightly faster under the Tories than under Labour.
This lot are no exception, in the space of six months they have remembered to forget to order the planes to go with the carriers, so that it will be French planes landing on UK carriers; they hiked VAT to the EU recommended 20% within days; they signed up to the 2.9% budget increase (which in % terms means that our net contribution goes up a lot more than 2.9%); they signed up to all the hedge fund regulation nonsense. And so on and so forth, the list is fairly endless.
So yah boo sucks to those who said “A UKIP vote is a wasted vote because it might prevent the EU-sceptic party from getting in.”
Yes indeed. Anyone who said Cameron was Eurosceptic was either lying, not actually listening to him or delusional.
He never fooled me.
I have covered iDave and the EU, in rather robust terms, here…
http://www.countingcats.com/?p=8016#comments
The Conservative party supporting part of the media have been in the tank for David Cameron since the leadership election.
The only noteable exception has been Simon Heffer (Peter Hitchens is not a Conservative party supporter).
So Peter Oborne cares more about crawling to the power elite (in Britain and elsewhere) than he does about his country.
No surpise there.
As for David Cameron himself.
This government is already a failure (on everything – including tax and spend, when one gets rid of the smoke and mirrors) – and all the crawling articles by Peter O. and company will not change that reality.
It will become obvious in the new year.