When one decides to delve back into history, it is surprising what you find. Unfortunately, due to my having only begun in December 2009, my personal 'reference book' is rather minuscule when compared to others. Richard North, EU Referendum, has very kindly sourced some of his material for me - my thanks, Richard.
David Cameron was appointed leader of his party on 6th December 2005 and has always maintained his eurosceptism burns brightly within him - which is rather odd really when you travel back in time. Digressing slightly, readers will be aware of the novel 1984 by George Orwell in which Winston Smith works in the Ministry of Truth where he is employed to change passages in past newspaper articles in such a way as to make them congruent with current party doctrine - something similar oddly enough appears to be happening today.
On the basis of one speech, made without notes at the Conservative Leadership Conference in October 2005, Cameron attained the leadership of his party. Videos of this speech were available on youtube, yet strangely they appear to have been censored for reasons of copyright, which is also odd bearing in mind the text of that speech can still be read. A year earlier at the Conservative Party Conference, during a fringe meeting Cameron spent five minutes offering his views on how his party would win the next general election. Richard North posted on this with a link to the Conservative Party website, a link that also seems unavailable - quelle surprise.
The same month an edition of Question Time featured a panel comprising Nigel Farage, Patricia Hewitt, Jody Dunn, Matthew Parris and...... David Cameron. For some time now we have heard nothing from the Conservative Party but talk of repatriation of powers from the EU; we have had Hague talking about it and Useless Eustice forming his pressure group, a group presumably formed with Cameron's agreement, to further that aim. I have always maintained that repatriation of powers from Brussels was 'pie-in-the-sky' as the EU only has one aim, which is 'ever closer union', coupled with the fact that were just one power repatriated to any member state it would open a Pandora's Box whereby other member states would apply. In this QT programme both Cameron and Parris were of the belief that repatriation of powers was possible, citing the example of Margaret Thatcher who, as Richard North chronicles here, had an 'ace in the hole'. What is more important though is, as Nigel Farage stated in this programme and luckily noted by Richard North in this post, any repatriation of powers would require the agreement of the remaining member states.
Returning to Cameron's election to the leadership one has to ask just what those who voted for him were thinking. His leadership bid speech contained his aversion to the party moving to the right, he only mentioned Europe once and not in the context of EU membership and if one rereads his speech the content is so bland as to be forgettable. Just a year earlier he had been guilty of espousing the party line and then publicly attempted to be disingenuous by linking repatriation of powers to the success of Margaret Thatcher's rebate 'handbagging'. The failure of his party to secure an outright majority in 2010 may well be attributable to the fact that by then the majority of Conservative members had realised the gigantic error they had made in choosing Cameron and consequently 'did not go for it', 'did not seize it', 'did not fight for it' which resulted in 'someone or something denying them'.
Were a referendum held on our membership of the EU and which resulted in 'Out', what follows is not that simple, as Richard North explains in this post. Back in 2004 Cameron knew this, back in 2005 when he made his leadership bid he knew this, back in 2007 when he gave his cast-iron guarantee on a referendum he knew this, back in early 2010 when he he begged voters to elect a eurosceptic Conservative Party he knew this - and this year when he obviously agreed to Useless Eustice forming his pressure group urging repatriation, he knew that this is unachievable too and he is not the only one either. It stands to reason so do the likes of Cash, Redwood, Carswell, Heaton-Harris and the remainder of the supposed eurosceptic Conservatives, including Useless Eustice, Raab, and Patel.
Hopefully the EU will implode through some external factor such as the failure (at long last) of the euro but failing that withdrawal could, I still believe, be accomplished although the after effects might be painful for a time.
Politicians have known for some time now that they are not respected and are held in derision by the public. Should it cross their minds to wonder why, might I suggest they just ask David Cameron. He has not been honest with us, he has lied for personal, political gain and in so doing he has been another to have sullied his Office, his reputation and what was once a revered profession. It reflects badly on those who profess to be honourable, principled men and women that they continue to allow themselves to be led by one of questionable standards. But then, maybe, the fact that any protest is most noticeable by its absence, the fact they seem content to continue to allow themselves to be led..................
Readers may have noticed one omission above when listing prominent eurosceptics and in this regard I would recall an event during the last general election when a microphone worn by Gordon Brown was famously left 'live'. Well, it would seem a similar occurrence happened and Cameron and Hannan were overheard. Enjoy...........!
11 comments:
Hannan confuses me so much. He was one of the "Conservatives" who thought that it was a good idea to support Obama in '08 along with that blond manatee from London. Now he unquestionably stands by Cameron. Obama doesn't seem to be worried by who's in charge of Britain since the 3 parties want to be just like him. That or the EU commission is enamored with a fellow authoritarian schmuck.
I think Peter Hitchens has it right in electing Cameron they get the Undertaker for the Conservative Party arranging its cremation.
There can be no "repatriation of powers" under QMV, so its is really a "partial withdrawal from the EU" which is impossible, so it is either "in" or "out".
Confused Thinking = Doublethink is a British hallmark and increasingly present in narcissistic politicians presenting their sociopathic tendencies to the public.
Cameron is a flake, he is so crassly fake that even Putin must have guffawed to hear Cameron present a gay pickup and grooming session as a KGB recruitment attempt.
Gas prices are high, and I can envisage a winter of burning cars and shops as people try to keep warm. It is probably time to bake lots of cornish pasties for sustenance when the Law-Abiding Citizens decide to follow Gerard Butler's example
That missing page is here:
http://web.archive.org/web/20050422132439/http://www.conservatives.com/tile.do?def=news.story.page&obj_id=116252
AR: At times I think Hannan confuses Hannan! I still doubt him, regrettably, as I doubt any politicians espousing non party policy but remaining sheltered within that party - and doing so for personal gain?
TT: Too true, what you say. I also believe you are right in how you foresee the future. As a people we are slow to anger but when we do get angry.......
s: Thanks for that link. I spent ages trying to find it but gave up due time constraints. It shows Cameron hasn't in any way changed his views.
No, no, there was a serious error of interpretation on the 'Hannan' tape. That wasn't the sound of shoes being polished at the end, it was the sound of an exceptionally enthusiastic tongue licking of leather.
Political historical revision is live and well, but it has somewhat been exposed by the ability to capture and archive web pages and info feeds. To counter this politicians are now much more careful to say nothing while sounding magisterial, much more careful to ensure that anything they do say has a get out and to make sure that careful parsing of the individual phonemes used in their statements can be made to show the exact opposite was actually said. Just listen to Cameron.
PC: Heh, that was exactly my thought about the sound at the end!
Needless to say agree with your last paragraph........
WfW: Forgive me if you have already answered this question but do you think the EU will die as a result of the euro collapsing? I've read the pieces referenced by Richard N (by Heffer and by Dellingpole) and can see a lot of sense in Heffer's argument i.e. the corpse may well be revived with Cameron's help. But what do you think?
k: I am honoured to think that you believe little old me has the answer you seek!
Having read both pieces I can agree with some points both Heffer, Delingpole and Richard North make.
Defending the euro by the EU is a given and I can see them wrecking the entire economy of all in so doing. That the euro logically will fail is also I believe beyond doubt.
When Heffer talks about a new treaty to secure fiscal union, well, we already virtually have that with member states having to get their budgets vetted including us.
This would be but a sticking plaster effort to keep the EU together as the basis of ever closer union has to be a single currency, which is one reason the EU has never worked as it should with the UK and others outside the euro. Enoch Powell was so right on that aspect as he was on so much else.
I agree with RN in that if the euro fails, the EU will not fall immediately, it will linger on in what will be its death throes.
IPJ is right when he says:
http://www.parker-joseph.com/pjcjournal/2011/09/16/european-central-government-the-end-game/
Those that say revolution would not happen here in the UK will I believe be proved wrong. Politicians have managed to keep facts hidden up to now but I do think that once the lid blows and people become more aware of how the EU affects their lives (which is happening) the closer comes the day when the people will take to the streets.
I think Cameron will go along with attempts to shore up the EU until even he sees that his personal position as an MP and PM is at risk and then his wish to continue his career will mean another 'U' turn.
Sorry if all the above is a tad garbled as an answer............
There's a pervasive idea that what we signed up to was the EEC, which was a purely trading arrangement which has been perverted into the EU political project. It follows that we can revert to the EEC/Common Market. This is obviously something people deeply want to believe. It seems so reasonable.
No need to rehearse here why it's utter bunkum but it's the soil in which the Tories' reform nonsense flourishes. It's very important to point out why the notion is complete rubbish, at every opportunity. Oddly enough, if you look through the comments for newspaper articles, some of the people pointing out most clearly that the cosy reform ideas of the Tories are complete twaddle are supporters of Le Projet from outside the UK.
As for the end of the EU, my guess is it will be like a makeshift life raft disintegrating. Some people will realise it's a lost cause and swim off, but there's be a hard core which will be there to the last holding the spars in place by hand and taking their trousers off to use as improvised ropes to tie it together.
There's so much desire amongst the political class to keep the EU going that even when the flesh is dropping off the bones of the rotting corpse, they'll still be applying mouth to mouth artificial respiration.
Were it to be officially declared dead, they would be working on assembling the wreckage into Son of EU.
It's difficult to know for sure what's going on in the minds of Tory Europlastics and those approving their actions. One possibility is that it's bet-hedging. It's realised that the EU is looking dodgy and this reform business can be used as a platform to help build EU MKII. The main objective would be to keep the source of regulations justifying jobs and pensions going.
Thanks WfW. Your detailed response is much appreciated and very useful.
It is not necessary that all 27 EU members will want a particular power to be repatriated - each of them may have their own local concerns and a populace to satisfy. For any power that is repatriated in the interest of a particular country, Fishing in the case of the UK, it will also be repatriated to all 27 members. As each member wants different powers to be repatriated, the whole house comes down a like a house of cards.
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