First, I have to offer apologies to readers for the lack of output today, a lack caused by my having to attend a housing association 'do' which lasted all day and part of the evening.
As a result there is a great deal of 'catching-up' to do with the news of today, however it is obvious that my favourite politician (not) would appear to be having a rather hard time in Brussels. I note from the Guardian that Cameron has been told to 'back-off' or face being sidelined and that the paper reports David Cameron cut the loneliest figure at the gathering, a bystander and non-contributor in the effort to save the currency, but seeking to force separate British demands on to the agenda as the price for his assent to the new regime.
If a deal is to be reached encompassing agreement by all 27 member states, it would appear Cameron has not aided that process by, according to Paul Waugh on Twitter, warning Merkozy his Tory Eurosceptics may not pass any bill ratifying a bailout fund unless he gets his 'protections'. He really is between a rock and a hard place (all of his own making I hasten add) as any failure on his part to go along with any plan to forestall the collapse of the euro - and thus the EU - will bring just as great problems at home, problems that may threaten the Coalition, his own party - and subsequently his position in that party - with increased calls for a referendum.
Digressing slightly, on this repatriation of powers thingy I am informed from a reliable source that in the debate on the EU in Shipton under Wychwood, Oxfordshire, just prior to the 2001 General Election which saw Cameron elected to Parliament for the first time David Cameron was making return of powers part of his election policy plank (and this was before more handover with the Lisbon Treaty had occurred). Cameron went further in that debate as under pressure (as to what he would do if return of these powers was refused) he clearly stated that in this case, we might have to leave the EU. This poses the question that if he believed then that in the event repatriation of powers was not possible and in that event leaving the EU was the only option, what has changed his mind? Surely not the age-old joy being part of the world power elite, hobnobbing with Heads of State and the political equivalent of the good, bad (and the ugly); revelling in the attention of the world's media?
Perhaps the time is ripe for Cameron to make good this promise (especially, bearing in mind that many more powers have gone since then) and put the leaving option on the table in Brussels tonight.
Either way it is virtually certain he will not be looking forward to his homecoming.
4 comments:
My heart bleeds for him......NOT!
Whatever happens Britain will be out of the EU within 5 years.
If Dave signs up to all this nonsense his political position in the UK will become untenable. There will be something of a political revolution and the EUsceptics have won every single intellectual argument.
If Dave actually grows a pair and tells Merkozy where to get off then the UK will be sidelined. even better. we will then be in a position where we are on the outside of an organisation, throwing in Billions every month but with absolutely no influence whatsoever. The political atmosphere has dramaticaly altered in the UK. Absolutely nobody gives a stuff about the EU anymore. If we are " Sidelined" The pressure to leave altogether will be unstopable!
There are going to be some very scary headlines. Nasty threats and bullying. However I believe we can now see a way forward. the future is a fiscally integrated EU. With an independent self governing UK merely in a very flexible free trade association with it.
Hopefully all this nonsense will destroy the careers of most of the political establishment too!
Cameron could quite successfully argue in favour of Nudism to a nudist community whilst representing apparel retailers. He is after all a PR man, and they are simply lawyers without qualifications and Purveyors of Liquid Truth
Cameron says whatever he thinks the audience of the time want to hear.
However, it's a fact that oppositions tend to be eurosceptic and the same party when in government is pro the EU.
I believe that Blair and Kinnock are on record as having made speeches where they condemned the EU in its very essence. How things changed.
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