Isolated in Europe?

I hear this morning from the BBC that Mr Cameron is now “isolated” in Europe because he dares to take the Conservative Group out of the EPP.

That puts us into line with the majority of people in Ireland who voted No to the Lisbon treaty. It puts us in line with the majority in France who voted down the first version of it. It puts us in line with all those Danes who voted No to past federalist plans. It puts us in line with the millions of citizens across the European nations who want to trade with each other and be friends with each other, but who dislike the self appointed EU political elite living high on the hog at our expense.

We hear that Mrs Merkel will freeze him out. Not if and when he becomes Prime Minister. She will have to listen to what the UK wants. I bet she still wants us to pay huge sums into the system.

We are told we will have no influence. We have no infuence under this craven, back peddling, mendacious government, who offered us a referendum to win an eleciton, then denied us one after it. They give in on everything the EU elite want us to accept. They even gave away a big chunk of our rebate for no good reason.

The public is in no mood for lectures on being good Europeans and having to tow the line to be in the in crowd. The tide is out for political elites. The EU one is no exception. Well done. David. You’re better off out of the EPP. Its high time the European Parliament had a substantial group that provided some opposition to the long march to centralisation and more Euro control.

The BBC and the rest of the EU establishment must be rattled, to make this an issue in such a one sided way.

Our headline is “Conservative Leader resigns from political elite to join his fellow countrymen and women.”

50 Comments

  1. APL
    May 12, 2009

    JR: “Ihear this morning from the BBC that Mr Cameron is now ā€œisolatedā€ in Europe because he dares to take the Conservative Group out of the EPP.”

    Good.

    The sooner the BBC is sorted out by a new Tory administration the better. Make the BBC raise their own subscriptions on a voluntary basis the better.

    I wonder, will there will be enough MPs left in Parliament from either of the two ‘main’ parties to form a government?

  2. Robert, Oxford
    May 12, 2009

    The EU brings no net benefit UK citizens: we’re better off out of it.

  3. Ian Jones
    May 12, 2009

    It would be interesting to understand what you see as the future for the UK outside of Europe. I hear lots of comments on getting out of Europe but no detail on what the UK would do.

    Why not try to work with fellow Europeans on developing Europe! They all want the same thing in life as the British but have different ways of thinking.

    The UK cannot afford to go it alone.

    1. APL
      May 12, 2009

      Ian Jones: “Why not try to work with fellow Europeans on developing Europe!”

      Ian, surely you must know, the European Union cannot be reformed, its structure is set by the treaties. Talk of reform of the EU is at best misleading and at worst, deliberatly so.

      Also, please do not jumble up Europe a geographical area and the European Union a protectionist political construction.

      The UK does not have to ‘go it alone’ if the EU were sensible they would happily trade with the EU. If they chose not to be sensible, then that is their affair.

      If we leave the EU we can still remain in the EEFTA. So our trade arrangements should be unaffected.

      1. APL
        May 12, 2009

        APL: “The UK does not have to ā€˜go it aloneā€™ if the EU were sensible they would happily trade with the EU”

        Should have been ‘with the UK’

  4. mikestallard
    May 12, 2009

    I do read Open Europe. I also read Dan Hannan’s blog and also the excellent and almost entirely unvisited Roger Helmer’s blog too. Add to this, Christopher Booker in the Telegraph, and you quickly see what the EU is made up of – bigots.
    It really doesn’t matter what we think. If you do not do what the people at the top expect, and indeed, know to be right, then you are punished or shut up.
    I am not going to give a list of whistleblowers or OLAF’s excesses. But I could.
    The only reason why I have now changed to voting Conservative in the EU elections is simply because of the very, very high standard of their MEPs.
    If it were not for that, I should be going for either Libertas (totally off the BBC’s radar), or UKIP (presented as slightly madder than the box of frogs which is the BNP.)

    1. Steve Tierney
      May 12, 2009

      Good to see you’re voting Tory, Mike. You’re right, the calibre of MEPs is excellent. John Flack, who is on the borderline and we’d really like to add to the mix would be another excellent addition, so every vote counts.

      I hope you’re going to vote Conservative in the County Council elections too! I’m not sure quite where in Wisbech you live, but its at least possible I might be your candidate!

  5. Brian Tomkinson
    May 12, 2009

    What about the referendum that your party also pledged? We still want it but I don’t think we are going to get it. I don’t think Lord Tebbit’s suggestion, on Today, of not voting for any of the main parties in the forthcoming European elections was necessary as millions have decided to do just that. I think you can all expect a lot of shocks in June.

  6. Tim
    May 12, 2009

    I note that the BBC has not arried out any serious assessment as to how the UK would have faired in the current economic difficulties has we entered the euro.

    IE the inability to maintain control of intrest rate policy, our ability to devalue sterling and introduce quantitive easing, Although some of these policy actions might prove damaging we would no doubt have less room to manouvre and address the structual weakneses in the UK economy had we been part of a wider monetary union.

    1. Janet Child
      May 12, 2009

      Yes thank goodness we maintained our independence.

      I always thought of monetary union as being like me and my neighbours in the street all pooling our money. However much I like or dislike them I’d rather keep control of my own money. This doesn’t mean I wouldn’t buy anything from them or they from me but we can each keep our own cash and decide to spend/save it ourselves. This may be a bit simplistic but then I like to keep things simple and understandable….

  7. sjm
    May 12, 2009

    Since the EU accounts have not been signed off for more than a decade, why can’t the UK refuse to pay its dues until matters are sorted out?

    Mind you, I’m one of those awful people who think we would be better of out and simply having normal trading relationships with our neighbours, old dinosaur that I am.

  8. Robert Eve
    May 12, 2009

    Just imagine what the BBC would say if Dave bit the bullet and took us right out of the EU for good!!

    Trouble is he won’t do it.

  9. colin
    May 12, 2009

    There was a good reason for Blair giving away much of our rebate as his final gift to the EU before leaving office–he was hoping, and probably still is,to be the first President of Europe.

    1. Citizen Responsible
      May 12, 2009

      And the creation of the office of President of Europe, is part of the Lisbon Treaty, which Blairā€™s government has denied us a vote on.

  10. Denis Cooper
    May 12, 2009

    I can no longer keep quiet about this …

    It’s “toe the line”, as in putting your toes on a line drawn in the sand.

    Unless you’re actually dragging on a tow line, eg when walking along a tow path pulling a boat along a canal.

    1. DBC Reed
      May 12, 2009

      You’re not bothered by “back peddling” then?

  11. Simon D
    May 12, 2009

    I am old enough to have voted in the EU referendum. At the time nobody told me that the project came in two parts (1) a trading area (disclosed) and (2) the creation of a super state with massive transfers of sovereignty (secret). Had I known about (2) I would have voted against. I have never had the chance to vote on (2). The EU super state project lacks democratic legitimacy.

    In the UK there is now only one division in society that counts. The peasant voters are ruled by a small political and media elite (PME), supported by academia and the higher echelons on the public sector, which shares a well defined set of common values. The BBC shines as a beacon of the PME cause which crosses all parties. One of the interesting trends of the last 20 years is the way that the PME has marginalised dissenters in the political process. The tragedy is that the PME governs peasant voters whose values they despise and distrust. For the PME things get worse the further you go north and west of the M25.

    The PME is committed to the EU super-state although it well knows that the ignorant peasant voters loathe both the EU project and the arrogant Brussels elite which runs it. The PME cannot risk a referendum on any aspect of the EU because the wretched peasant voters would be guaranteed to vote the “wrong way.”

    Part of the frustration of the peasant voters is that, whichever way they vote, the PME always ends up in government. Forget the class war. The PME has triumphed. The PME will inevitably ensure that the European project proceeds in the “correct” direction and there is precious little the peasant voters can do about it. PME 10. Peasant voters 0. Brussels for ever!

    1. pipesmoker
      May 12, 2009

      Simon

      I too voted, I voted “No” heeding the advice and warnings of Enoch Powell about what the Common Market would eventually mean. There were others, Peter Shore, Wedgie Benn?

      I postulate that Edward Heath sacked Powell for his views on the Common Market and used his speech in Birmingham as the excuse. Powell was a great politician and parliamentarian!

    2. Janet Child
      May 12, 2009

      You are right! There are further enclaves of the PME though eg a flourishing part of it exists in Wales and the Welsh Assembly. I daresay there are other versions of it in Scotland and NI and they are all beginning to look towards Brussels rather than Westminster these days.

      Their leader was/is Tony Blair who had the good sense of timing to get out of the hot-seat before the proverbial hit the fan!

    3. SJB
      May 12, 2009

      In the 2004 European Elections, the anti-EU parties (UKIP + BNP) polled 21% of the vote on a turnout of 38.2%.
      http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7241315.stm

      Here was an opportunity for the “peasant voters” to register their dissent – so why did they not take it?

  12. Stewart Knight
    May 12, 2009

    Let us not forget how Brown gave away all remaining vetoes and rebates; these should be prominently shown to the public.

  13. Mrs Smallprint
    May 12, 2009

    Hear, hear – if the Conservatives want people to vote for them at the European level then they need to set out their stall rather better than they are at the moment. Letting the BBC get away with their usual drivel just won’t work.

  14. A. Sedgwick
    May 12, 2009

    This really is deck chairs and Titanic – the real issue is an in/out EU referendum. I doubt if Cameron is brave enough for this.

  15. oldrightie
    May 12, 2009

    Isolation is often the lot of the righteous!

  16. Freeborn John
    May 12, 2009

    I still do not trust Cameron on the EU issue. I haven’t voted for the party of Maastricht since Maastricht and won’t be voting Tory in 2010 either. However, should Cameron/Hague re-negotiate EU membership I will vote retrospectively for the Conservatives in 2014/5.

  17. Demetrius
    May 12, 2009

    Perhaps the Government will sell the BBC to QVC, its natural home, and then we can be happy watching all their promotional programmes with real advertisements.

  18. Neil Craig
    May 12, 2009

    The BBC are the propaganda arm of the Civil Service.

  19. Paul
    May 12, 2009

    Now that the Tory party has joined the majority of the English Electorate maybe they will make an unequivical policy on an EU referendum.

    By the way John, I have emailed Dave today requesting that he promotes one Mr John Redwood MP onto the front bench in the position of Head of Economic Regeneration.

    Keep up the good work

    PS Will you be supporting Douglas Carswell’s motion of no confidence in the speaker?

  20. michael mcgrath
    May 12, 2009

    Don’t you realise that Mrs Merkel will say to her manufacturers “don’t sell any thing to the Brits”.

    And BMW and Mercedes will refuse to supply the perfidious English.

    Mrs Merkel will then be placed in a warm, caring sanatorium, paid for by German industry, before she, rather abruptly, retires

  21. Yorrkshireman
    May 12, 2009

    Bang on the money John!!!

  22. the man from UNCLE
    May 12, 2009

    I will be voting Conservative at the ‘national’ election and UKIP at the European – I suspect many more will be doing just that.

    1. Cliff
      May 12, 2009

      Me too!

      Having just listened to UKIP’s election broadcast, I came to the conclusion that they represent traditional Conservative values and policies far more so than Mr Cameron’s Conservatives(sic).

      1. Matthew Reynolds
        May 13, 2009

        It was an excellent election broadcast – very honest and impressive ! Well done UKIP !

  23. adam
    May 12, 2009

    Marta Andreasen’s book coming out soon

    The EU is a regional arm of the United Nations world government system, They have given themselves immunity from law and disenfranchised the general public, giving us at best a minor lobbying facility instead of direct control over those who initiate legislation. They have declared soft war on Britain and are working hard in secret to destroy my freedom and sovereignty, using lies and fraud to facilitate it.
    They are implementing sustainable developments which takes much of its ideology from early French socialism, partly they intend to 1) Abolish private property 2) Create the concept of a global citizen through the education system 3) implement a global tracking system through concepts like the global biometric ID card for the purpose of centralised planning and management of the planet through the so called ‘Internet of Things’ network

    peace

  24. Matthew Reynolds
    May 12, 2009

    Dear John,

    Any comments on Lord Tebbit saying that the mainstream parties & the BNP should not be voted for on June 4th this year ? He is right that Tory , Labour & probably Lib Dems have been bad over expenses and right to urge voters to avoid the BNP like the plague as they are Labour plus racism. The whole political class needs to be taught a lesson.

    In the European elections a UKIP vote of 25% on a high turnout would remind the Westminster elite that a recent poll shows that 55% want out of the EU and a trade agreement instead. Non of those people should vote for a Party whose leader & deputy leader want to be active & engaged members of an organization whose accounts have not been signed off for about 15 years. As 85% of our laws are made in Brussels why should MP’s get three times the average wage plus obscene expenses and a pension system far more generous than anything given to most voters ? What do MP’s do to deserve all that when they only make 15% of the UK’s laws ?

    I do not blame Tebbit for these remarks at all ! Given the fact that the political wing of the IRA got Ā£500,000 in expenses despite not sitting in Parliament he is entitled to speak out. Those from the same political tradition who put his wife in a wheelchair will not swear loyalty to Her Majesty but will take the Queens Shilling are so two-faced that it defies description.

    Do you not understand that The Times poll this morning ( registering a 4% drop in support for both the Tories & Labour ) shows how frustrated the electors are ?

    I will be voting UKIP as I think Lord Tebbit is 100% right !

    Yours ever
    Matthew

    Reply: Remember what happened to 3 UKIP MEPs last time round. One went to prison, and the party lost one quarter of its elected strength.

    1. Matthew Reynolds
      May 12, 2009

      Well John will Ken Clarke be content for David Cameron & William Hague to pledge to reduce the percentage of UK laws made in Brussels from 85% to say below a third within five years ? We the taxpayer deserve value for money – by reducing the powers of the EU & having fewer QUANGO’s we can give MP’s more stuff to do for their money. Coupled with less expenses funding from the public purse & less money for Brussels that could be good for democratic accountability and save the taxpayer money.

      Why bother with Westminster when thanks to the EU it has so little to do in terms of legislation ? By all means pay MP’s decently when they actually have some work to do ! If they only pass 15% of the UK’s laws why do we need 650 odd MP’s when the US House of Representatives has 435 members and you could fit the UK into Texas three times over ?

      I was impressed by what David Cameron said about expenses today. What I would love is a firm pledge to reduce the proportion of laws made in Brussels for the sake of democratic accountability and to give our MP’s something meaningful to do for their money.

      Does the return of Ken Clarke to the shadow cabinet make that less likely ?

  25. D.W
    May 12, 2009

    Oh Dear ! The EU Establishment really are throwing their toys out of the pram aren’t they.Could it be they have more to gain the we Brits out of the whole EU agenda ?

    Their protests suggests they do.It seems to be getting right up their noses , well good !We don’t need to hand more power to an unelected , unaccountable pack of bureaucrats who, I have no doubt, will not work in the interests of our country.

    So well done to Mr Cameron, carry on working against the grain
    and continue to sock it to em.As oldrighti says above “isolation is often the path of the righteous”

  26. pipesmoker
    May 12, 2009

    I too wait for the day you get back on the front bench JR but given your views on the EU I don’t think much of your chances.

    I have voted Tory all my life, with the exception of 1975, I have ripped my polling card up for the forthcoming EU elections and will not vote again until there is a cast iron promise of a vote on the EU, be it membership or not the Lisbon Treaty.

  27. Lola
    May 12, 2009

    Put it this way. I really do not care whether European apparatchiks isolate us or not. I want two things. I want my freedoms back and I want my money back.

    Clear enough?

  28. Bazman
    May 12, 2009

    Never mind the European gravy train. What about the British gravy train? The silence of the Anti Europeans speaks volumes.
    A bit more on your blog is required about this subject John. You are leaving mainstream politics wide open to every Travis Bickle in Britain.

    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075314/quotes

  29. Mike Paterson
    May 12, 2009

    Why vote Conservative in the EU elections? Since – while her back was turned – knifing the leader who delivered them three general election victories, they have manifestly shown they are not to be trusted. Let’s not forget that this is the party responsible for taking us in in the first place and signing Rome and Maastrict. I have no doubt they would have signed Lisbon too, and Dave would happily have posed with the other gurning ne’er-do-wells for the photo-op afterwards. But to be fair, their policy on the EU has always been consistent: to show JUST enough – and not a jot more – scepticism to keep a large tranche of their faithful on-side.

    I would agree with the previous poster, however, that they have some first-rate MEPs, ironic and tragic as that may be.

    1. Ken Worthy
      May 15, 2009

      I agree that the Tories have a lousy track record on Europe, but the other parties are even worse. It will need a Government to get us out of the EU, and there is no prospect whatsoever of either of the other two main parties moving in this direction. The vast majority of the Tory membership is Eurosceptic, and a majority of their MPs also. The leadership has never had the guts to do anything about it, but then no leader had ever had the guts to do anything about the unions either, till Mrs T came along.
      Rather than harping on the Tories past record on Europe, we should concentrate on what needs to be done to give them the political courage to act instead of just talking. The large vote UKIP will get at the European elections will be a good start. Being outside the EPP and part of a real opposition – the first ever in the EU – will help. But the most important step would be a referendum on Lisbon – whether or not it has been ratified. A referendum, which would be overwhelmingly won by the Eurosceptics, would be hard for even a Tory leader to ignore. (not impossible, of course, but hard) That’ll do for a start.

  30. Mike Paterson
    May 12, 2009

    PS Toe the line. I believe it is a nautical term, something to do with the deck of a ship, not a line in the sand.

  31. Paul
    May 12, 2009

    Someone claimed to be an old dinosaur because they didn’t want to go into a federal EU. Well sir/madam you are no dinosaur, the dinosaurs are the people still following a 19/first half 20th century policy of Empire. Big global empires, huge statist powerblocks, the EU are all old hat control freak multinational corpratists. They’re all now dead in the water. We can now trade anywhere in the world 24/7 from our armchairs, we can gain instant feedback on democratic issues and matters of public policy, we can research (if so inclined) and uncover lies about climate, oil reserves, MMR or whatever the politicos aided by the MSM and dead tree press try to foist on us.

    Never has power to the people been truer in history than it is now. Have you noticed that the EU and Zanu Labour have started muttering about the Internet and it’s need for regulation, for our own good you understand!

    We are witnessing the cusp of massive change in politics. For the first time in nearly 30 years I feel like i may be able to make a difference in some way and at least I can make myself heard.

    Without being rude to John, he was often painted as a charisma less vulcan by the BBC and MSM. We who read his blog now know different, we know beyond doubt that he is a man of integrity, intellect and has quite a few of the answers to our problems. No longer will the more aware members of the electorate have to make do with the “show man” snake oil politicians we’ve been foisted with up until now.

    Come the glorious day brothers and sisters, come the revolution!

    1. adam
      May 13, 2009

      Yes, you are right.
      The internet is changing everything, that is why they hate it.
      The fake mps who are really salesmen for the EU in their local area instead of voice of the people will be exposed.
      America will be first but Britiain will be close behind.

  32. Citizen Responsible
    May 12, 2009

    “We hear that Mrs Merkel will freeze him out.ā€

    Mrs Merkel might not be Chancellor for much longer. There are German federal elections in September and her coalition government could come unstitched.

  33. Thomas
    May 12, 2009

    Can we please stand up for the nations of Europe and against their disgusting self-serving elites and their grandiose schemes of glory? Please Mr Cameron, just once more, for old times sake. This is a pitiful threat compared to what we’ve faced down before, it just requires a single leader to take it seriously. Do it.

  34. Adrian Peirson
    May 13, 2009

    You are all missing the Demographics problem, Patriotic Brits will become Minorities within a few decades, this is no accident.
    especially when you factor in the fact that they want to sterilise British schoolgirls and westminster having presided over 7.2 million abortions since 1970.
    The EU elites thought of everything.

    We never needed an EU 100 yrs ao to trade with europe and the World, the EU is simply a Gravy train syphoning the wealth of nations upwards into the Vaults of the Elites.
    I mean what exactly do these Beaurocrats actually do but lie about Global Warming then tax us for it.
    We have open borders, yet somehow pollution, road congestion and landfill problems are all our fault and we must be fined.
    The EU is simply a gravy train.

    1. Pete
      September 23, 2009

      Adrian Peirson – “they want to sterilise British schoolgirls and westminster” – What are you on about?

      1. Adrian Peirson
        September 23, 2009

        Do try to Keep up with Events Pete, there is a War on you know and being British, you are in it.

        http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-514542/Why-sterilise-teenage-girls—temporarily-least.html

        7.2 Million abortions since 1970, a pregnancy advice centre in every town where young mothers are told ‘it’s only cells’

        mass immigration, has the penny dropped yet, they knew long ago as long as Britain was full of Brits we could always pull out of their EUSSR….

        (words left out)

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