The 'new' Conservative 'Eurosceptic' Movement

I have had to break off from my intended post on Constitution (4) because the recent article on Conservative Home by Anthony Browne, co-author of the Open Europe paper on Euro-Localism, cannot be allowed to stand without comment. Richard North has already posted his views on Anthony Browne, pointing out that this is the man who one minute is advocating that we must not leave the EU and then writes for Open Europe.

Anthony Browne obviously has a deep sense of democracy when he enthuses that the purpose of the meeting was not to pressure the government into holding a referendum on pulling out of the EU – indeed, that was explicitly and repeatedly ruled out as a purpose of the new group. Neither does he get this 'democracy thingy' when he writes that the purpose of the group was also to reach political agreement, backed by in depth research, into exactly what powers the UK could repatriate, and in what way. So with the majority of the country wanting a referendum he is more than content that MPs - and MPs alone - should continue their practise of deciding what the country wants, or to put it another way what the country is going to get.

That Anthony Browne and George Eustice are but sycophants of David Cameron is all too evident; each is intent on ensuring that a rebellion against Cameron does not happen and confirmation that this is but a smoke and mirrors exercise to ensure our country remains a member of the EU, despite what the public believes or wants. But then would we expect otherwise; they are, after all, both in their own way members of the permanent political class, one that looks after their own.

I have borrowed the phrase 'permanent political class' from a speech by Sarah Palin in which she said:

".....because the reality is we are governed by a permanent political class, until we change that. They talk endlessly about cutting government spending, and yet they keep spending more. They talk about massive unsustainable debt, and yet they keep incurring more. They spend, they print, they borrow, they spend more, and then they stick us with the bill. Then they pat their own backs, and they claim that they faced and “solved” the debt crisis that they got us in. [..] Yeah, the permanent political class – they’re doing just fine. Ever notice how so many of them arrive..[...]..of modest means and then miraculously throughout the years they end up becoming very, very wealthy?"

 And that, dear reader, is why the likes of Eustice and Browne became involved in politics. They have no more intention of heeding the public than the Pope has of converting to Anglicism. If Anthony Browne and George Eustice really believe all this crap, namely that the one-way tide of power passing to Brussels can be stopped and then reversed, then rather than being in Westminster perhaps they should be in Broadmoor.