Peer Unrepentant over Losing Tory Whip

The Scotsman linked here reports Baroness Cox as being unconcerned over the loss of the Conservative party whip in the House of Lords, she said:

“The essential point is that we are giving, or have given, our national sovereignty away to Europe.

“I’m not an anti-European but the time has come to say we can’t surrender our freedom to Brussels and that for me over-rides every party political issue.”

Lady Cox told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme “a very large number” of Conservatives felt the same way.

And she added: “We are the tip of an iceberg.”

The now clearly completely incompetent Conservative party leader, Michael Howard, was meantime reported in this morning's Daily Telegraph to have authorised a full scale assault against UKIP, whose anit-EU policies are now so clearly striking a chord with the public, after years of the Tory party's lies and hypocrisy on the overriding issue of our times.

Four Lords lose Tory Whip

The following is the latest report on the Lords' letter backing UKIP from icCoventry linked from here:

Quote

'Peers disciplined over UKIP letter'

Four Tory peers have been disciplined after urging people to vote for the UK Independence Party in next month's European election.

The party withdrew the whip from the group after they said a strong UKIP vote was the only way to persuade the Tories to adopt a hard-line policy of pulling Britain out of the EU.

A fifth peer, Lord Laing of Dunphail, was spared punishment after he changed his mind and retracted his support for the move.

The four - Baroness Cox of Queensbury, Lord Willoughby de Broke, Lord Pearson of Rannoch and Lord Stevens of Ludgate - joined a further seven cross-benchers in signing an open letter urging people to vote for the UKIP, which wants to pull Britain out of the EU.

The four are now threatening to join UKIP, but are more likely to sit as independent Tories in the Lords.

The letter states: "We urge those who normally vote for one of the main political parties to lend their vote at the European elections on June 10 to the UK Independence Party.

"Only thus will the main parties be persuaded that their policies towards the European Union are not in the national interest. It is to that national interest that we all owe our allegiance."

Lord Strathclyde, who leads the Tories in the Lords, said their actions were unacceptable.

"The Conservative whip has now been withdrawn from the four peers named in the UKIP statement," he said.

"A vote for any party other than the Conservatives on June 10 would be to let Tony Blair off the hook. Votes for minority parties can only give comfort to the Prime Minister who is determined to sell us out over the European constitution."

Unquote

Lord Strathclyde clearly has no grasp of present-day realities whatsoever. A vote for the UKIP or other fringe parties on 10th June is a vote against the EU and parties such as the Conservatives who promote its objectives in an underhand and secretive manner.

Eleven Tory MEPs for the next session should be the target - 22 maximum will be a victory! Same goes for New Labour!

Tory Peers Back UKIP

Baroness Cox of Queensbury, Lord Willoughby de Broke, Lord Pearson of Rannoch, Lord Stevens of Ludgate and Lord Laing of Dunphail have put their names to an open letter urging people to vote UKIP.

The letter states: “We urge those who normally vote for one of the main political parties to lend their vote at the European elections on June 10 to the UK Independence Party.

“Only thus will the main parties be persuaded that their policies towards the European Union are not in the national interest. It is to that national interest that we all owe our allegiance.”

Lord Pearson said he hoped other Tory peers would back UKIP. He told PA News: “We have failed to persuade Michael Howard over Europe.

“The only party that can save our democracy is the Conservative Party. But we hope a significant vote for UKIP can make Michael Howard see sense.”

He said it did not matter which candidates became Euro MPs as Brussels was full of “second-rate freeloaders” anyway.

The above quote is from a report in The Scotsman linked here.

NOT HONEST AND TRUSTWORTHY

One question and the shocking response it evokes - stands out above all else for me in this morning's YouGov Poll linked from the post beneath this. It is the following:-

Do you think that if a Conservative Government were elected, it would, on balance, be honest and trustworthy.

Yes would be honest and trustworthy--------24
No would not be honest and trustworthy-----58
Don't Know --------------------------------18

Howard is unelectable, as this blog always maintained - Why is he leader?

Telegraph Predicts 20 Per Cent for UKIP after latest Poll

The latest YouGov poll for the Daily Telegraph click here for details and link, is disastrous news for the Tories.

Howard's Tories according to Bagehot in the Economist

We are no longer alone in our complaints at the shambles that is now the conservative party, from this week's edition:-

======================================================================
"Oliver Letwin " - overwhelmed by the intellectual thuggery of Gordon Brown.... Mr Letwin cuts a forlorn figure

"Theresa May" - the problem is simply one of invisibility

If "Tim Yeo" - had similarly disappeared from view, he might have done his party a favour....overbearing manner, slightly seedy appearance and evident lack of interest in both his subjects

The article concludes "For all his vaunted professionalism, Mr Howard has made a hash of all key appointments, while forcing his senior colleagues to operate within a structure that does not work. It is not Mr Howard's opportunism that is holding the Tories back, but his rotten management."
===================================================================

If Howard is as clever as his supporters suggest then such incompetence has to be deliberate. They justified removal of IDS because of poor administration and management - but read this actual quote from the Economist's columnist:-

Mr Howard's supposedly streamlined, slimmed-down shadow cabinet is less impressive than his predecessor's.

Norman Tebbit was the first to publicly suggest that UKIP was being deliberately sabotaged because of its euroscepticism, time somebody started to INVESTIGATE why the Tories are in such an horrendous and non-functional condition, IS IT NOT??????

Howard's Electioneering - Oh Dear, oh dear, oh dear!

If this version reported by the supposedly pro-Tory Daily Telegraph is anywhere near to a reflection of the truth then the Conservatives are indeed in deep trouble - click here to read the article.

The Economist A Buy for Tomorrow

In its coverage of the European Elections, the weekly magazine that likes to set the week's thinking agenda for those who matter, carries an item titled - The damage that the UKIP could do to the Tories

Finding Excuses for Tory Failings

The Scotsman linked here, casts around for every excuse it can find for the increasingly obvious failure of the Conservative party to connect with the voters. Among the theories floated by the paper:-

Howard is victim of rising expectations:
A colourlessness about the present Conservative team:
His team is laid back in that way well-bred young Conservative men and women tend to be: keen not to show that they are making an effort:
They are threatened by the breakthrough of the anti-Europe UK Independence Party:
An instinctive political affinity with people still stubbornly evades Mr Howard:
Howard's stilted Birmingham speech on ethnic diversity on Tuesday; all being among the suggestions put forward.

The real answer seems to me to lie in the following, now clearly obviously inaccurate perception that has been parroted almost non-stop, principally by the Conservatives main opponents since Howard was first PUT in place as party leader:-

Mr Howard, it should be said, is a careful judge of options and a shrewd tactician.

He clearly is no such thing. What in his long political career are the achievements that are supposed to prove this point? If it were true he would have gained the leadership at a much younger age, not in his sixties when the party had seemed to have exhausted every other option.
Howard's ministerial achievements are few and still controversial. As I said at the time of his ANNOINTMENT on this blog, he looked like a man specifically chosen to lose - he is fulfilling that role admirably!

In whose interests are those Tories who manoeuvered him into position really working - the cause of further EU federalisation has been the prime beneficiary of Howard's policies and strategies (if they can be flattered with such a title)- UKIP's poll assent is the result, a crushing of the Tories in the European Parliamentary elections is NOW ON THE CARDS. A fate contrived by the clearly anti-democratic EU federalist wing of the party but now deserved by all.

The craven response of supposedly patriotic and anti-federalist Conservatives to Howard's changes has been shameful and shocking, not one Tory now deserves to be elected. Force of habit will condemn the country to 11 Tory MEPs. Let's hope the electorate at large have sufficient sense to ensure it is certainly no greater than 22.

Could Tory Sleaze finally work FOR the Conservatives?

The following is an excerpt from an item in this morning's Financial Times:-

With Labour expecting a drubbing in next month's local and European elections, partly because of a low turnout, the findings will add to worries that the party is now reaping what it sowed when campaigning against Tory sleaze during John Major's government.

The entire article may be read by clicking on this link.

Poll Blow for Howard

Two weeks into the run up to 'Super Thursday' and the Tories are clearly reaping the rewards for their treacherous toppling of their elected leader and the undemocratic annointment of a popularly distrusted successor - or possibly Howard's mistaken policy stances ever since?

The Guardian linked here, reports this morning that the incredibly unpopular Labour Government leads the Tories by 4 per cent in the latest ICM Poll, a quote:-

The survey does, however, contain some good news for Tony Blair. It shows Labour with a four-point lead over the Conservatives, in sharp contrast to recent polls that triggered speculation over the future of his leadership.

Our post on this morning's blog Ironies linked here, titled "Sleaze in Politics" further explores the likely implications.

Bashir Khanbai's Defence

Read the long and detailed defence statement of the disqualified Conservative MEP by clicking on its title : JUSTICE DENIED

Is This the Best Euroscepticism that the Tories now can Offer?

Norman Tebbit, supposed flag bearer for those opposed to the EU within the cowed Conservative Party, headlines a mild rebuke to Michael Howard for all his recent federalising treachery as follows:-

Howard will lose voters to the UKIP unless he toughens up

If the title sounds toughish any bite is speedily lost in the ramble that then follows. A few of the slightly critical items are the following:-

European election candidates have been strong-armed into affiliation to the federalist European People's Party and, as a poll in this newspaper showed yesterday, significant numbers of disaffected Tories are now tempted to vote for the UK Independence Party.

No comment is given on these acts just the daring fact that he acknowledges that they have taken place. The writer does then directly continue by criticising policy when he says:

While Conservative disunity over policy has diminished, it has been at the cost of diminishing policy, too.

It has, as Lord Tebbit must surely be aware, not diminished policy but rather completely reversed that policy as far as the EU is concerned. The Conservative Party is now quite clearly committed to further EU federalisation, that is the price paid by Michael Howard for his leadership, or possibly even, and more likely in this writer's view - the very goal of that leadership change.

That is why the UKIP are surging in the polls and also why hopefully all Eurosceptic candidates are now poised to crush Howard's hypocritical party in the European poll on 10th June. With Labour voters departing in droves from Blair's untruthful administration, a veritable political earthquake now seems on the cards.

Lord Tebbit seems unprepared to acknowledge or recognise this possibility, as the remainder of his article concentrates on matters only of relevance in the local elections.

It is extremely sad to see a politician of principle, shirking the hard decisions at the twilight of his career when he might have still had some role to play in redeeming the present disastrous situation regarding the EU, for some of which he must surely take a part of the blame.

Some committed Conservatives may argue that the article's concluding paragraphs provide that call. I quote them here:-

If that leads to a punch-up between our elected Parliament and our unelected foreign masters, so be it - the Tories would be on the side of the British people and soaring support for UKIP shows Brussels is less loved even than Mr Blair.

It is now time for Mr Howard to lead with confidence. He may offend some voters, but that is the price for enthusing far more. Disenchanted Tories will not leave their armchairs to fight under a pale beige flag.

In the words of St Paul: "If the trumpet gives an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself for the battle?"

In my view, given the preceding concentration on the trivia of domestic political detail, Lord Tebbit's call in this article, is far from certain and indeed, can barely be heard at all let alone its real intent clearly discerned.

Tories TOO Desperate to be 'COOL'

Ferdinand Mount reports in his column in The Sunday Times -

It is painful to watch the Conservative' Party's efforts to be cool. Tory members have been sent strict instructions on how to appear groovy and informal at their summer ball. "Evening Glamour has been chosen specifically because it is NOT a Black Tie event, and we would request you not to wear a tie," reads the the invitation. "You can wear a Black Tie suit, but preferably without the tie."

In about a year it will be this party - expecting our votes - to make them the next government!

Bashir Khanbai Widens and Strengthens his Racism Claims

ITV Anglia is also now reporting on this ongoing scandal within the Conservative Party. EDP24 which has been reporting on the matter closely from its beginning returns to the story this morning. The article is linked from here and the following portions seems the most relevant new information:-

"There is no question that I was hounded out because of racist elements within the party," he said.

Last night Mr Khanbhai stressed to the EDP that he was not accusing the party per se of racism, just certain members.

"The grass roots of the party, the ordinary people of Britain have been absolutely wonderful to me and that is why they continue to support me," he said.

And in an apparent change of tack, Mr Khanbhai questioned the authority of the leader of Norfolk County Council Alison King and other senior Norfolk Tories who wrote to party leader Michael Howard demanding he be dropped from the slate of candidates for next month's elections to the European Parliament.

"What happened was unwarranted, unjust and unfair. I was elected by the grass roots by the six counties in the Eastern Region. What authority do a handful of Conservative county councillors have in Norfolk to write to the party board to de select me? Absolutely none. Of course I will fight to clear my name," he said.

Previously he denied that senior Norfolk Tories had turned against him, insisting it was speculation.

Former Tory MP Announces non-support for Howard


Wake-Up Call for Michael Howard –

Why I won’t be voting Conservative by Ex-Tory MP

Writing in the latest edition of Freedom Today former Conservative MP Christopher Gill explains why he cannot bring himself to vote Conservative in the European Parliament Election on June 10th.

“As a consistent opponent of European political integration I find Michael Howard’s European policies totally unacceptable”.

“Michael Howard’s cosying up to the federalist EPP-ED group in the European Parliament and his determination “that Britain shall remain a positive and influential member of the European Union” demonstrate his commitment to the federalist agenda”.

"His failure to back moves to institute a cost/benefit analysis of our EU membership is a further disappointment which defies logical explanation”.

“The fact that the majority of Conservative MEPs have, at the behest of the EPP, withdrawn their support from the motion to censure the European Commission for its failure to combat fraud beggars belief”.

“On June 10th voters have the chance of a free kick – they can abandon their traditional party loyalties without fear of causing collateral damage. They should not miss this one-off opportunity of telling the political elite that they simply don’t want to be governed by laws made by those that they neither elect nor can hold to account”.

Telegraph EDitorial Condemns Conservatives to Irrelevance

Following a startling YouGov Poll linked from here the Tory supporting newspaper's leading article opens by concluding that UKIP appear unstoppable in the European elections and then conclude by pretty much agreeing with all that I said last evening in the posting immediately beneath this regarding Howard's hopeless Tories:-

Quote
It is a remarkable feature of public opinion that, depending on how the question is asked, between 35 and 45 per cent of people want to leave the EU - despite this position not being advocated by any major party, newspaper or politician. UKIP is engaging in clever niche-marketing, presenting itself as the plain-speaking alternative to a cartel of Euro-philes.

The prospect of a referendum has forced Labour and the Lib Dems to be more vocal in their support for closer integration. The Tories, for their part, oppose the constitution, but their scepticism has a dated, early 1990s feel to it. In those days, Michael Howard's talk of "variable geometry" and "a flexible Europe" was daring. But public opinion has moved on; and so has the European project.

People can see the direction in which the EU is moving, and are no longer to be fobbed off with cant about "a Europe of nations". They want to know what Britain would do in the event that most other EU states pushed ahead with political union.

There was a moment when Mr Howard seemed to suggest an answer. In his Berlin speech, he indicated that Britain would stand aside as a friend and sponsor while the more federally minded states went ahead on their own.

But the Conservatives appear to have retreated from that position: their European manifesto is full of bromides about reforming the CAP, cutting red tape and so on. (To be fair, Tony Blair's referendum announcement anticipated what would have been the centrepiece of their platform.)

The only way to choke off the UKIP advance is for one of the mainstream parties - which, in effect, means the Conservatives - to offer a plausible vision of a self-governing Britain. They still have time - just - to do so before June 10. We hope they use it.
Unquote

The problem with the suggestion in the final paragrph, is that following the disastrous mishandling of the whole EU issue by Howard, there can be few voters left in the land who believe a word the Tories now have to say regarding Britain's relationship with Europe.

Interestingly Guardian readers are seeing the Tory Party attacked from an entirely different angle by the, as ever, completely out of touch Roy Hattersley, linked from here for light entertainment!

IDS Attacks Howard

So the Sunday Telegraph informs us in this linked article, although it turns out it is only on the one policy item of Iraq.

Shut your memory to reality for a moment, however, and imagine what a triumph the Conservative Party could now be contemplating in the European Parliamentary elections if they had stuck by IDS, kept their strong policy on the EU AND firmly broken the pact with the lefty-centrist EPP for the next parliament. They could TODAY be looking at a labour whitewash - instead they stare defeat in the face, tarred with the same brush of euro-corruption as New Labour, destroyed by the apparently deliberate sabotage of those elevated to the highest party levels and shamed by the stigma of Howard's enforced signatures by his MEP candidates of a loyalty pact to eurofederalism.

IDS must see what is happening, so too should John Redwood - do they do anything constructive or positive? Of course not, its party before principle and career before conscience so why do they remain in public life?

Oliver LetsLose Latest Sabotage

The Independent on Sunday has the report titled 'Letwin lets it slip: 'I want huge public spending cuts' linked from here, which strangely enough is exactly as I predicted only last Friday on the blog UKIP Uncovered in a post titled 'The Eurofederalist's Allied Conservative's Lies' from which I quote:-

Any who may have heard, seen, read or perhaps been momentarily taken in by the claptrap put out by Oliver Letwin as reported in the Western Morning News linked here, would do well to remember the following:-

1. Oliver Letwin almost single-handedly wrecked the opening of the last Tory General Election campaign for William Hague by giving the press totally spurious tax cut figures, then disappearing leading to the thrust of the campaign being diverted to a pointless week of 'where is Letwin' style reporting.

2. In the coup that propelled Michael Howard into the leadership position without a vote of the wider party membership, Oliver Letwin was at the forefront.

3. In spite of being Shadow Chancellor, Letwin for months refused to give up his career in Merchant Banking, a clear sign that he has no faith in the Conservative's regaining office - does he perhaps, know very well why? Was putting Howard into place enough to do the trick I wonder, or will we see similar antics as in the last campaign?

Bashir Khanbai Accuses his Colleagues and Causes of Corruption

AS The Observer puts it in - this linked article titled 'Muslim Tory MEP slams 'racist' party' , Bashir Khanbai has now stopped implying there were racial overtones to his well deserved removal from the candidate list and come right out and stated it about as plainly as he could:-

Khanbhai said: 'There are some in the party, including three or four of my fellow MEPs and some senior figures at Central Office... who could not cope with the fact that someone from the ethnic population was successful, independent and prepared to speak his mind.'

Read the facts in the article that follows, or refresh your memory by going back through this blog, either way it will become clear that this man should not be on any respectable party's list of candidates.

Of course it is also impossible not to argue that most party lists are stuffed with candidates unworthy of election in the European Parliamentary poll on 10th June. As we have been suggesting there is only one way of ensuring your vote does not install a repeat rogue - DO NOT VOTE FOR A PARTY LIST CONTAINING ANY SITTING MEP!

Regrettably in five years time the same advice will no doubt be necessay. The corrupting affect of the EU on all who go to Brussels and Strasbourg is really that bad. (Those interested in the possible causes are invited to follow this link to an item on a sister blog "Ironies" on 21st March, titled 'The Clever Conspiracy that Condemns us All to Corrupt EU Control - be shocked by clicking here.

New Race Row Engulfs Tories

Lord Taylor has returned the spotlight once more on to the Conservative Party's attitude to racial issues. icBirmingham carries the report which may be read from this link.

Michael Howard in Sedgefield 20/5/04

A Quote:-

Just like Newcastle United and Middlesbrough, I am delighted to be in Europe.

Britain has never gained a single thing from being within the EU - ask YOUR Tory MEP to name one. If he says 'Peace" its a lie - anything else please send to this blog....it will be a first!

Bashir Khanbai Sacking - 'Racist' Overtones Queries in EADT?

The East Anglia Daily Times, today returns to the Observer's earlier suggestions that the dismissal of Bashir Khanbai by the Conservative Party for abuse of expenses whilst an MEP, could have recialist overtones. The full report is linked from here.

Tories Abandon Commitment on EU's Social Chapter

Today's Daily Telegraph carries a report on yet another move by Howard to ensure no fundamental reform of Britain's incorporation into the EU comglomerstate will be attempted by any future Tory administration. The article is linked from here and includes this passage:-

The social chapter has long been regarded by Eurosceptic Tories as one of the most objectionable "job-destroying" features of the EU.

But Labour said the Conservative manifesto for next month's elections to the European Parliament contained no mention of pulling out of the chapter.

A Tory spokesman said: "There is no longer any talk about opting in or opting out. You can't really opt out now because it is not on the table. But we do agree it has been bad for Britain and is an example of the endemic inflexibility of Europe."

There, in a sentence, is the Tory attitude to this country's total surrender to the EU and its abandonment of any pretence that this country NOW has any say in how it is run - not even apparently on what matters may or may not be discussed! Look again at this quite extraordinary quotation from a spokesman for the party still officially 'Her Majesty's Opposition':-

YOU CAN'T REALLY OPT OUT NOW BECAUSE IT IS NOT ON THE TABLE.

Howard Threatens Candidates with De-Selection

The following is the full article, first published in eurofacts on 14th May, 2004 as previously quoted in parts and without knowing the source. It is a hugely important article in light of the coming European elections, which is why we have reproduced it in full, as no link seems available. Subscription details for the fortnightly news sheet are as follows:-



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The important article on Howard's Tories and the apparent scheme to sabotage eurosceptic opposition in the next session of the Euroepan Parliament follows:-

Quote
Howard threatens candidates with de-selection

Conservative candidates for the EU elections have been forced to provide written asurances that they will work with the ultra-Federalist European People's Party

Michael Howard, the Conservative Party leader has taken the unique step of demanding that all candidates in the June EU elections sign-up to the Party's recent deal with the ultra-Federalist left-leaning European People's Party (EPP) - the political grouping to which it is allied in the European Parliament - or face de-selection.
A description of the "new" relationship between the Conservatives and the EPP is set out in the Conservative manifesto, Putting Britain First. An advance copy of this section of the manifesto was sent to each Conservative candidate. After describing the "very important changes" in the arrangements between the two, the manifesto states: "When elected, every Conservative MEP will be committed to this position."
In a letter dated 8th April - a copy of which has been passed to eurofacts - candidates, including existing MEPs were ordered by Liam Fox, the Party chairman to provide by April 19th a written assurance that they specifically endorsed this section of the manifesto ahead of publication on 29th April and the launch of the Tory campaign. It was made plain failure to do so would result in de-selection. It is believed to be the first time that such a threat has been made in respect of a single aspect of an election manifesto.
By the time the deadline arrived, however, a number of MEPs had failed to provide the necessary assurances. In the end, all Conservative candidates appear to have caved in and given the guarantee demanded of them - although a number of MEPs have entered reservations and caveats and many remain extremely bitter at the course of events.
The bitterness has been compounded because it has been made plain that no such threat will be applied to europhile Tory MEPs who may be unwilling to support the manifesto commitment to oppose a referendum on the Constitution and who are being asked for no equivalent guarantee. This obvious lack of even-handedness has been justified on the dubious grounds the constitution is a matter or principle while the issue of relations with EPP-ED is a matter of party organisation.

Separate Positions
It is strengthened further by the realisation that the deal on relations between the Tories and the EPP struck by Michael Ancram, the shadow foreign secretary in secret talks with Hans Gert-Pottering, the German leader of the EPP, is worthless.
According to the manifesto the new arrangements allow the European Democrats (ED) element within the group to develop their own separate positions. But Pottering subsequently told his suporters that the Conservatives had agreed to stay on existing terms. Just for good measure he adds: "Nothing has changed."
Events tell their own story. When 32 Conservatives, including the group leader Jonathan Evans signed up to a motion of censure on the Commission for failing to act decisively to deal with the allegations of fraud at Olaf, Pottering demanded that their names be removed. Evans meekly withdrew his own name and asked his colleagues to do the same. All but seven - tagged "the Magnificent Seven" by Private Eye - immediately obliged. One of the seven, Chris Heaton-(Harris -ed), the original mover of the motion has subsequently resigned as chief whip.
One MEP observed to eurofacts: "He (Pottering) is right about the deal. It's an empty box of an agreement. It's business as usual".
Bitterness about relations with EPP (or now, more properly the EPP-ED) extends to Conservative party researchers and even party activists. A senior researcher told eurofacts that the ED element in the grouping was really a fiction. "It doesn't have a bank account, separate staff, separate policies, a manifesto or separate meetings. All of our money still goes to the EPP which spends it (in - ed) ways of which we strongly disapprove. It would be no worse if the cash was handed over to the Labour Party. Last year money that came in as a result of our membership of the EPP was spent on support for the Constitution and the Yes Campaign in Sweden."
Among Conservative MEPs and political reseachers in London and Brussels it is accepted that the decision to bring massive pressure on the candidates to "sign in blood" (the phrase of one Conservative MEP) was taken by Michael Howard, rather the party chairman. One observed: "For Michael the general election is everything. He is frightened that if the Party was to split from the EPP Tony Blair would be able to say that he couldn't work with Europeans. It's as straightforward as that".
In fact, (if - ed) progress made earlier in creating a new group of anit-federalist pro-free enterprise parties had been continued under Michael Howard's leadership he would have had a ready-made answer to the Prime Minister's taunts. Howard would have been able to reply: "Of course we believe in co-operating with other political parties in Europe. But we're fussy who we work with! We believe in co-operating with like-minded individuals who share our belief in free enterprise and are strongly against further political integration. We cannot continue the charade of pretending to be workig with those who have the opposite beliefs. It is right to be honest about this. So we have made new and better arrangements as a result of which there will be more cooperations with European friends, not less."
Apart from British Conservatives the new grouping could have comprised the following: ODS(Czech Republic), Ishmaelite (Estonia), MPF (France), LNNK (Latvia), TS-LK (Lithuania), Christian Union (Netherlands), Law and Justice (Poland), Partido Popular (Portugal) and Civic Conservatives (Slovakia). Several of these parties have now made alternative arrangements, or are in the process of doing so.
However, had the plans for such a group come to fruition it would have been the third largest after the socialists and the EPP, but ahead of the Liberals. This would have given the new grouping the balance of power and created, for the first time, a pro-Atlantic anti-Federalist bloc in Brussels. Moreover, by virtue of size alone there is no doubt that the British Conservative party could have claimed its leadership as of right.
Instead by remaining allied to the EPP for the duration of the next EU Parliament, the Conservatives have chosen to let down large numbers of Europeans who had looked to them for help and guidance, as well as missing a hugely significant opportunity to shape events in Brussels.
Moreover, given the gulf between the view of most UK Conservativs and those in parties belonging to the EPP, it is clear that differences between them will continue to fester - even if good results on 10th June temporarily conceal feelings of anger and resentment.

European Tax

The Conservative manifesto misleadingly describes the EPP as a party of the "centre right". In continental Europe it is normally described as "centrist" party, but in British terms it is to the left of the Blair Labour Party demanding a high minimum wage, strong trade unions, a barrage of anti-discrimination measures, and an extension of the social chapter.
The extent of the group's federalist character is explicit in his EPP Basic Action Programme 1999-2004. This commits the party to:

- the phasing out of the national veto
- a pan-European president and foreign minister
- a pan-European tax
- single EU seats on the UN, IMF and WTO
- a European police force and army
- the single currency.

At present only a relatively small number are aware of the threats made to candidates in order to force them into line on the issue. But a senior party activist who is familiar with the details commented: "I am livid. I am apparently expected raise money to send people to Brussels in order that they can work with socialists building a European super-state. The only reason for sending Conservatives to Brussels is to stop them., This is a disgraceful situation, and the pressures which have been applied to candidates should be a matter of shame."
In editorials, eurofacts has generally been sympathetic to the case for Tory incrementalism as the only available means of escaping from an increasingly integrated European state (a case eloquently rehearsed in our columns in the past by Frederick Forsyth), while allowing a crucial role for United Kingdom Independence Party. But the Party's determination to preserve at all costs its relationship with the EPP inevitably calls into question the strength of the Conservative leadership's eurosceptic credentials. Negotiations which should not have taken place have been badly botched. Michael Howard has been shown to act cynically, the leader of the European Conservative group has been made to look foolish and weak, a number of decent and principled MEPs have been threatened and humiliated, and our natural allies in Europe have been betrayed. And for what?

Howard's Asylum Ace about to be Trumped

The forces in the Tory party, who through either treachery or stupidity imposed the tarnished Michael Howard upon the party as leader towards the close of last year, are now about to see the true depths of their folly or deviousness brought crashing home.

In an article in today's Daily Telegraph Howard unveils a legal opinion on the impact of the EU constitution upon the asylum issue. As may be read from here.

This attack by Howard, cannot be fully effective, however, because of the gift of the perfect riposte, handed by Howard to his opponents just before he left office as Home Secretary in the efficient but besmirched administration of John Major. On the table lay plans to axe some 3000 Immigration Officers. With that fact now public, who can believe that the Conservative Party would have handled the asylum crisis any better than New Labour in the past seven years? None knowing that Michael Howard would have been involved!

A LOOK AT STRASBOURG'S SLEAZIEST

(This post was earlier published on 'The Strasbourg Cesspit' but it is also of interest here).

Yet another look at the report from the Campaign for Parliament Reform study of the MEP voting record on reforming the scandal-ridden institution of so-called 'European Democracy' from its last session which cost so many hundreds and hundreds of millions of Euros for ZERO benefit or return.

THE WORST POLITICAL GROUP WAS :- EPP-ED GROUP

WORST GROUP LEADER:- HANS-GERT POETTERING

PARTY OF WORST GROUP LEADER:- GERMAN CHRISTIAN-DEMOCRAT

WORST INDIVIDUAL MEP RECORD:- KRATSA-TSAGAROPOULOU of Greece who only voted pro-reform for 3 per cent of votes, once again in the disgraced EPP-ED Group

MOST DISGRACEFUL RECORD FOR ANY MEP:- JAQUES SANTER LUXEMBOURG (Past Sacked Commission President - Remains to Resist Reform!)

WORST MEPs BY NATIONAL IDENTITY, PARTY GROUP & VOTES FOR REFORM.
================================================================

AUSTRIA..........SICHROVSKY Peter Group NI 11pct

BELGIUM.........DEHOUSSE Jean-Maurice PSE 31pct

BRITAIN.........HUME John PSE 33pct

GERMANY.........NIEBLER Angelika EPP-ED 8pct

DENMARK.........ROVSING Christian Foldberg EPP-ED 19pct

FINLAND ........SUOMINEN Ilkka EPP-ED 26pct

FRANCE ........DECOURRIERE Francis EPP-ED 6pct

GREECE........KRATSA-TSAGAROPOULOU Rodi EPP-ED 3pct

HOLLAND........MARTENS Maria EPP-ED 41pct

IRELAND.......McCARTIN John Joseph EPP-ED 13pct

ITALY ........MENNITTI Domenico EPP-ED 6pct

LUXEMBOURG...SANTER Jacques EPP-ED 5pct

PORTUGAL......COELHO Carlos EPP-ED 8pct

SPAIN ..........BAYONA de PEROGORDO Juan José EPP-ED 10pct

SWEDEN ........CEDERSCHIÖLD Charlotte EPP-ED 37pct

Twelve out of Fifteen Countries fielding the MEP most opposed to reform of the Parliament, from which the proverbial stench is becoming unbearable, came from a Party belonging to the EPP-ED Group!!!

The self-same Group being the very one selected by Tory Leader Michael Howard to be his partner in the next session of parliament

A disgraceful, ultra federalist Group that refused to join in even the signature of a motion to censure the Commission for their handling of corruption and that has no interest in anything other than ever deeper, greater and clearly ever more politically profitable EU integration.

Shameful that not one Tory, as far as I can discover, has yet to publicly protest at this continuation of such a sordid arrangement that Iain Duncan Smith had vowed to end!!!!

Whoever else you choose not to give your vote, and that of course is the truly difficult decision, at the election on 10th June, be sure that you DO NOT VOTE FOR ONE OF THIS ANTI-REFORM GROUP MEMBERS - NAMELY AVOID THE CONSERVATIVE PARTY LIST LIKE THE PLAGUE!

Campaign for Parliament Reform

The study that shows the Centre Right as the worst group in European Parliament in voting for reform is linked from here.

The results by Groups with the Tory's EPP coming absolutely bottom is as follows:-

European Parliament Political Groups in Per Cent

Strongly pro-reform
ELDR 84
Greens/EFA 83
GUE/NGL 79

Pro-reform
EDD 65
PES 58

Anti-reform
NI 43
UEN 31
EPP-ED 29

The Top Five Reform Tories

First Figure in Per cent is All Reform Votes, the second is Seat of the Parliament, third vote MEPs Statute and Expenses and finally the percentage turnout figure in reform votes.

JACKSON ------ Caroline F. --- 77 95 69 75
HANNAN ------ Daniel J. --- 75 94 71 95
HEATON-HARRIS --Christopher --- 75 94 70 85
McMILLAN-SCOTT -Edward H.C. --- 75 95 68 85
VILLIERS ----- Theresa --- 75 94 67 65

The Worst Record of Tories for Reform

(The percentage vote as per the subject headings in the table above!)

BALFE ------Richard A.--- 64 95 54 95
HARBOUR -----Malcolm ---63 95 52 100
BEAZLEY Christopher J.P. ---60 56 63 75
PURVIS -----John ---60 65 59 100
STOCKTON--Earl of --53 72 45 80

The list of the topics included in the survey and overall ratings are summarised on the blog The Strasbourg Cesspit.

EPP Group Leader Oppose Gravy Train Reforms

EU Politix carries a report Centre-right backs EU 'gravy train' linked here that shows the leader of the ultra-federalist European Peoples Party in the European Parliament (to whose eternal shame the British Conservative party have pledged their support in an alliance for the next session) has one of the worst records for voting against all proposed reforms of the appallingly corrupt system of expenses and perks in the 'Strasbourg Cesspit'. The following is a quote from the article on a study from the Campaign for Parliament Reform and the London School of Economics:-

The statistics also reveal a wide gap between the two candidates expected to take over as parliament chief in the next five year term.

UK Socialist MEP Terry Wynn, touted as president for the first half of the mandate, thrashes German MEP Hans-Gert Poettering, EPP-ED contender for the second half, with 81 per cent compared to 13.

The Centre-Right group in the last session of Parliament also comes out extremely badly, though managing to beat the quite disgraceful record of Poettering, who it will be recalled and to add to the shame, ordered British Concervatives to withdraw their signatures from a motion of censure against the Commission on corruption. Another quote:-

Centre-right MEPs have voted consistently to keep lucrative pay and perks regimes and costly monthly trips to Strasbourg, new statistics have revealed.

Greens and the European Liberal Democrats are the most outspoken pro-reform groups in the European Parliament, scoring 84 and 83 per cent in specially compiled reform ratings.

This compares to 29 per cent for the centre right EPP-ED, with the Socialists reaching third place on the score chart with 53 per cent.

I am trying to obtain the detailed listings for all MEPs and will place the full list on the blog The Strasbourg Cesspit and the individual Tory record here, if successful.

URGENT - ACT TODAY TO SAVE TELEGRAPH GROUP FROM EURO-FEDERALISM

Axel Springer who demands that his newspapers commit to the European Union seeks to take over the Daily and Sunday Telegraph. German Conservatism has little in common with British (or American) Conservatism. British readers of these titles should write to the Editor, Managing Editor and Chief Executive of the Telegraph Group (Canada House, Canary Wharf London E14 5DT) saying you will abandon the papers if Springer buys them.

A report on the reality of the threat may be read in this report from the International Herald Tribune on Monday, 'Springer's chance for global growth' by Nicola Clark, which may be read by clicking on this link.

Tory EPP Conspiracy Revisited

The following was a posting put on our sister blog Ironies on 14th April last. It seemed worthy of repeating here and now, as the campaign for your vote in the European Parliamentary elections gathers pace. The following, what would once have been considerd distinctly non-Conservative ideas, will be being worked towards by the group with whom Michael Ancram (who appears with Kilroy on Question Time tonight) recently negotiated a partnership arrangement:-

Eight Basic Principles of the Conservatives' Partners in the next European Parliament

The British Conservative Party has decided to continue in partnership with the European Peoples Party in the next session of the European Parliament. On 4th - 5th February 2004 that party adopted a manifesto for those elections which included the following major points.

I have extracted eight core beliefs that seem to me in absolute fundamental conflict with everything that I had always understood the British Conservative Party was supposed to espouse and represent:-

The EPP Manifesto Aims for the next European Parliament:-

1. More Integration

"The integration of nation states in the European Union is unique in human history ... Let us continue ........ and improve on it. "

2. Common Foreign Policy

"The EU should speak with one voice on all key foreign and security matters."

3. Defence SEPARATE from NATO

"This includes making European Security and Defence Policy in close cooperation with NATO. "

4. Immigration

"A Europe without frontiers requires joint efforts to master and manage immigration and combat illegal immigration"

5. Europolice

" Europol should be given more competencies..."

6. European Justice

"Eurojust should be developed"

7. European Public Prosecutor

" We support the creation of a European Public Prosecutor."

8. AND FINALLY THE SAME TIRED OLD LIE

"Our common history proves that the European Union is a unique safeguard for political stability and security in Europe. We now need to strengthen our joint forces against new threats to our security."

I have been trying to get my own Conservative MEP to comment on this Manifesto for more than two months without success. Yesterday evening another Conservative MEP put this statement onto an internet discussion forum:-

The formal terms of our relationship (by which he means the Conservative Party) make quite explicit that we are not bound by and do not subscribe to the EPP manifesto.

Yet they are bound by a binding political pact, just recently agreed by Michael Howard after this manifesto was published, to work together in the next European Parlliament - PRESUMABLY TOWARDS THESE ENDS!

WHAT COMPLETE AND UTTER HYPOCRITES THE PRESENT CONSERVATIVE PARTY UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF MICHAEL HOWARD MUST TRULY BE! WHICH SET OF POLICIES DO THEY HOLD TO BE TRUE? THOSE THEY ESPOUSE WHEN IN BRITAIN OR THOSE ABOVE THAT THEY ARE NOW BOUND TO WORK TOWARDS WITH THEIR EPP PARTNERS IN THE NEXT EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT?

'The Observer' Queries if Race was an Issue in Khanbai Ouster

Last Sunday's paper linked here did a detailed report titled 'Sleaze, scandal and the man in the white suit' on the Bashir Khanbai scandal and stated the following:-
+++++++++++++
..the Tories had allowed Michael Trend, their MP for Windsor, to remain in the House of Commons despite being forced to repay nearly £100,000 after claiming allowances for a property he no longer lived in. In addition, last month an Austrian MEP caught more than 30 British MEPs signing a register to claim a £180 daily subsistence allowance for living in Brussels and then flying straight back to Britain. None of these Tories has been deselected.

Asked if he thought race may have been an issue in the fierce campaign to oust him, Khanbhai said: 'You have to make your own mind up.'

The local Conservatives are strangely silent on the issue. None of the several associations contacted by The Observer returned a call. At a meeting of the Tory party at a church in Norwich on Thursday night, not one member was prepared to comment on the affair. A spokesman for Conservative Central Office said: 'The issue of race never was an issue in this affair. The party's proper process was followed.'

Most of the anger of local Tories now seems to be directed at Martin Bell whom they accuse of being in league with the Eastern Daily Press to wreck their election campaign. 'Bell's father used to work for the paper,' sneered one disgruntled Tory at Thursday's meeting.

+++++++++++

It appears to me that the earlier mistaken decision by Howard not to suspend the MEP might have been based on the horrible precedent of the Michael Trend case mentioned above, or possibly even some concern that charges such as these might suddenly surface.

Certainly the 'Calcutta Telegraph' linked here reporting on the case makes no mention whatever of such overtones. In my mind this is a straightforward case of Conservative Sleaze as usual and 'The Observer' was pursuing some elctioneering trouble-making.

Martin Bell Launches Eastern Region Campaign

This report from EDP24 linked here quotes the independent MEP candidate as follows:-

... ethics were particularly on the agenda after the Bashir Khanbhai expenses scandal which led to the Tory being deselected by his party leadership last week.

"It is a very good time right now to be in non-party politics," he added.

Over in the West Midlands another scandal that is engulfing numerous sitting MEPs as reported on the blog The Strasbourg Cesspit simmers along with Conservative MEP Philip Bushill-Mathews, author of the a book aptly titled "The Gravy Train' revealing some of the secrets of the life of an MEP as follows:-

“It is not a question of running away from committee matters. Some days there are simply no committee meetings.

“Many years ago you didn’t even have to turn up to claim your expenses - so we have moved on from there."

Geffrey Van Orden lead Conservative MEP Candidate in the Eastern Region is also caught up in the same accusations engulfing Mr Bushill-Mathews in the West Midlands and Martin Callanan lead Tory in the North East among many others.

More Clever but Confusing Conservative Cons

Michael Howard is generally considered to be one of the cleverer politicians of his generation, according to the reckoning of this observer he is clearly one of the slipperiest, tying him down is a little like trying to grasp a wet fish...which is a fitting analogy for considering his latest statement on the EU's Common Fisheries Policy.

Geoffrey Ripon the chief negotiator and Conservative MP who conceded control of our own waters to the Europeans and blatantly lied to Parliament alongside the silent, and thus assenting Prime Minister Heath, was the first in a long line of British politicians of both main parties whose words are absolutely not to be trusted one fraction of an inch on this topic.

Let us see what Howard had to say on the topic during his recent trip to Scotland. (Quotation thanks to EUReferendum):

"When I visited the fishing community of Pittenweem in December, I pledged to restore national and local control over our fisheries. The Common Fisheries Policy is emptying our seas of fish and has utterly failed our fishermen. It needs to end. And let us be clear­ only a Conservative Government can and will end it. And if necessary we will legislate in Parliament to make it happen.

For if we wait much longer, there will not be a fishing industry left to
sustain. My message to Scotland's fishermen is simple: "I can deliver and I will not let you down".

As the author of the blog 'EUReferendum" points out in his co-authored book on the EU 'The Great Deception', fisheries are a 'common resource' of the EU, thanks to the treachery of past British governments they no longer fall within the remit of the Westminster Parliament - legislation such as that promised here, by the oh so tricky Michael Howard, would be irrelevant UNLESS Westminster was to pass an act cancelling the entire 1972 Act of Accession to the EU - something 'Hypocrite Howard' steadfastly refuses to do. How therefore can Howard expect to be believed when he says that he and his confidence trickster conservatives, (now committed and bound hand and foot to the ultra-Euro-federalist EPP German dominated group in the European Parliament for the next five years): And if necessary we will legislate in Parliament to make it happen.?

Properly analysed against history and all the presently known facts, that is as absurd as his closing statement:-

"I can deliver and I will not let you down

Happily the polls indicate Howard will not be given the chance for events to prove me right!

Any who doubt my words and choose to believe Dr Richard North newly converted as a supporter of the treacherous Tories who brought us to this pass, should read this quotation from page 408 of his book:-

"But by 1 January 2003, it would be clear that the Commission had won almost all it was after. As yet further crippling restrictions were imposed, it would become clear that the Scottish fleet was doomed. It had taken 30 years for the CFP to destroy the Britain's fishing industry, but by now this had been all but achieved. Soon there would be just one 'Union fleet', fishing 'Union waters', wholly under Brussels control."

'Telegraph Leader' Challenges the Foundation Stone of Howard's Policies

The Daily Telegraph minces no words in its Leading Article this morning, and the headline really says it all:-

Britain belongs in the English-speaking world

The editorial may be read from this link.

WE have chosen these selective quotations to give a flavour but recommend it be read in full:-

Britain finds itself in its traditional position within the EU: isolated and resented. For all Mr Blair's early ambitions, he has failed to break the cycle. As the deadline for agreeing the constitution looms, Britain is holding out against a series of measures backed by the other states.....

Britain is being pulled by tectonic forces that are bigger than any administration. There was always a moment when the other EU states would demand, perfectly reasonably from their own perspective, a solemn commitment from the British to political and military integration. The EU constitution represents that moment. Yet still Mr Blair - and, it must be said, Michael Howard - continue to duck the choice.

The view of this newspaper is that Britain's place is in the wider community of free, English-speaking peoples - the "Anglosphere", to use the current buzzword. But it is worth pausing to note that we are perfectly capable of acting independently of both Washington and Brussels. The United Kingdom is the fourth-largest economy in the world, the fourth military power, one of five permanent members of the Security Council and a member of the G8. If Norway is able to pursue an independent foreign policy, negotiating political settlements in the Middle East, South-East Asia, Sri Lanka and Sudan, how much more so are we?


This blog, and more particularly my founding blog Ironies exist to argue that very point, and we have done so almost daily and untiringly for well over a year. It is a pleasure to now be joined by the renowned, albeit presently proprieterless 'Daily Telegraph',(we must cross fingers that the paper's new solid stance, especially if Hollinger Board influenced, will be maintained).

It is be to the eternal shame, possibly resulting in the deserved demise of the Conservative Party, that under the guidance of Michael Howard and his team, they are presently seen as a complete irrelevance in this great and world-shaping debate!

Momentous movements are afoot this early summer - just as we had long predicted. The future courseS of Britain and Europe are in play!

Tory Lead Falters and Retreats

The YouGov Voting Intention tracker, considered by purists the best guide to real voting intentions has more bad news for the once again sleaze saddled, scandal torn Tories.

At the beginning of last October, IDS had pulled the party back from their longstanding and seemingly never-ending 'trough' (not their MEPs of course) to gain a lead of five percentage points over Labour. By the end of that month, as the turmoil of the party putsch bemused and confused the elctorate, (not to mention their increasingly disgusted membership), that lead had started to slip away and it was not until the early part of this year that such a lead had once again been regained - but never exceeded!

The latest results from a survey conducted between 6 - 8 May and published in the Mail on Sunday show the lead once again falling back from that peak figure to only 4 percentage points. Given Howard's disastrous launch to the Euro campaign, the surely politically inspired BBC choice of photograph in this link Dream On Howard??? and the arrival of Robert Kilroy-Silk at UKIP, (twenty years away from politics so the stench hardly sticks?) must make the outlook extremely worryingfor the Tory leader. Not least when considering the size of his own tiny majority in his own immigration affected constituency in Kent.

The YouGov voting intention tracker may be studied in detail from this pdf link YouGov Voting Intention Tracker (Have the Tories Peaked?)

Tory Prospects in the East

Norfolk's EDP24 web site has a good analysis of the Euro election situation in the Eastern Region which is linked from the headline 'Bad start for Tory Euro hopes'

More Tainted Tories from 'The Sun's' Brussels Snouts

PHILIP BRADBOURN (West Mids, Con). Claimed at least once when there were no sessions and left 13 times. Cost: £2,310.

GILES CHICHESTER (South West, Con). Claimed when there were no sessions at least eight times. Cost: £1,485.

PHILIP BUSHILL-MATTHEWS (West Mids, Con). Left eight times. £1,320.

MARTIN CALLANAN (North East, Con). Claimed at least once when there were no sessions and left at least seven times. Cost: £1,320.

Read the full article from this link.

Tory Lead Candidate in the North East now named in Expenses Scam

Martin Callanan has been named as another of the British MEPs implicated on the 'clocking out - cashing in scandal'. This report is from the renowned North Eastern Darlington based newspaper once edited by the 'father of modern journalism' W.T. Stead The Northern Echo linked from here:-

Euro MPs respond to 'snouts' accusation

EURO MPs last night hit back at a report in which they were branded "Brussels Snouts" and said to be cashing in with expenses claims.

Thirty-three British MEPs were singled out in the report as "clocking on" at the European Parliament for cash handouts and then quickly leaving.

Others were said to be pocketing a daily allowance of £165 on days when the parliament held no sessions.

Those named included North-East Tory MEP Martin Callanan and Richard Corbett, Labour member for Yorkshire and the Humber.

Last night Mr Callanan told The Northern Echo: "I have always been scrupulous in abiding by the rules of the parliament and there is no accusation here that I have done anything wrong.

"I do agree, however, that there is a lack of clarity and I have constantly voted for reforms regarding the procedures surrounding expenses."

In a statement, Mr Corbett said that the expenses claimed by MEPs were comparable to that of Westminster MPs. He said: "It is a perception fuelled by the Press that MEPs' allowances are outrageously high."

Under EU rules MEPs can sign a register indicating their presence in parliament in order to claim expenses.

Postal Voting! - Danger to Democracy?

A letter setting out the dangers may be read from this link

Tory Prospects in Scotland

The Scotsman has had a close look at conservative chances ahead of Howard's vist tomorrow. The article may be read in full from here or the general drift quickly gathered from the headline - Long memories threaten Tories' Scottish revival ... and the concluding paragraph:-

The problem is widening their support. One analyst says: "The Tories still have a very basic problem in Scotland - people remember what they were like and they don’t trust them."

Somewhat like in the rest of our island it would seem!

Eastern Region Lead Candidate now in Expenses Spotlight

The Tory turmoil in the Eastern Region of England shows no sign of ending! No sooner had disgraced MEP Bashir Khanbai been stood down from the Conservatives Candidate list than the spotlight turned onto their lead candidate Geoffrey Van Orden in this press report from Norfolk's Eastern Daily Press linked here

But Tory hopes that they had now put allegations of this kind behind them were dashed last night when it emerged that their top candidate in the region, Geoffrey Van Orden, was caught up in accusations about MEPs going to the European Parliament to claim a daily attendance allowance and then leaving the building soon afterwards.

Telegraph Trumpets UKIP while Tory Taint takes its Toll

The Daily Telegraph while giving extensive coverage to the launch of the UK Independence Party's campaign and prominence to its new leading light, Robert Kilroy-Silk's attack ( linked here) on the hostility of the public towards its lying polticians, the paper's reports on the Conservative Party concentrate on that very element of sleaze (closely associated with that party's name since John Major's days), in the sacking of its Eastern Region expense scamming MEP Bashir Khanbai. The full report may be read from this link: Tories sack MEP questioned over expenses claims written by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard in Brussels. The following new facts regarding the case emerge from this article:-

The Parliament (European - ed.) believes that he may have over-claimed around 30,000 euros in travel expenses.

While repaying some money for extra mileage from Norfolk to Heathrow, Mr Khanbhai also received a "distance" bonus for having a residence beyond a 500-kilometre radius from Brussels. Sevenoaks does not qualify.

This bonus is worth an extra 104 euros for each weekly trip to Brussels, amounting to several thousands of euros annually.

It is rare for the European Parliament to investigate members over expense claims, preferring to rely on the institution's honour code.

It becomes ever more astounding that the supposedly astute leader of the Conservative Party could have ever called this fraud inadvertent, let alone after a supposed 'full party inquiry', the excuse in the newspaper article that these other facts were only later brought forth by the MEP are farcial, what kind of ethics inquiry relies on the sole evidence of the accused and does not check the full details of all the procedures under which the fraud was perpetrated? Not one seeking the truth!

In the article is this statement 'His safe No 3 slot on the list will be taken by Christopher Beazley, a veteran pro-European MEP respected by both wings of the party.' It is now up to the voters in the Eastern Region to make sure the third slot is not SAFE for the Tories - indeed with their record on the EU and in Government and Opposition only the first list place in any region should be allowed to remain safe for this devious, disingenuos and now thoroughly digraced political party!

Tories Ditch Bashir!

About turn by M. Howard! Bashir Khanbai is out just before MEP nominations closed. Earlier background on the threats that were necessary to budge Howard's conscience and grasp that he had a 'major' problem is linked here.

Read the epolitix report of the long drawn out and eventual, clearly reluctant deselection from here.

How will Howard now handle the growing scandal of the Pledge of Allegiance to EPP Group Leader Poettering now obligatory for all Conservative MEP candidates according to reports we hear, see our post below?

How can the Tories now campaign as anti-anything involving the EU? Only under the banner of 'Howard's Hypocrites'

Oath of Allegiance to Poettering Demanded from 'AND SIGNED BY' All Tory MEPs

In a breathtaking move against Eurosceptics it has been reported that Michael Howard is demanding an 'Oath of Allegiance' to the ultra-federalist 'European Peoples Party' from all prospective MEPs on the Party's Euro Elections Lists. I quote the report we received :-

Quote
HAVE ALL TORY MEPs SWORN ALLEGIANCE TO THE EPP?

A meeting in London last night heard some very disturbing news about the
position of Tory MEPs and the EPP group. If it is true then it means that the ONLY part of the Tory manifesto for the Euro elections which is binding on the candidates is their sworn allegiance to involvement with the EPP. And this means that, effectively, the Tories are simply lobby fodder for the Federalist group in the European Parliament, while cannily telling everyone back home a very different story.

This is the release which was circulating at last night's meeting.

TORY MEPs MUST SWEAR ALLEGIANCE TO FEDERALIST GROUP OR BE SACKED

Tory MEP candidates have all been sent the Tory European Manifesto by Liam Fox and, in a letter dated 8th April, were required to accept in writing by 19th April that they agree specifically to the paragraphs endorsing
association with the EPP group in the European Parliament.

There was no requirement for endorsement of any other section of the
Manifesto including the pledges to resist the EU Constitution and to keep the pound.

They have been told they will be deselected if they do not sign.

We now understand that all Tory MEP candidates have signed this endorsement although some may have entered reservations.

This follows the Ancram-Pottering agreement on Tory future membership of the EPP group and the split over the EP fraud investigations' vote.

This episode shows the undemocratic nature of the European Parliament where MEP's are selected and controlled by the Party leadership and face
deselection if they do not comply with the leadership's actions.

It also will leave a number of respectable eurosceptic parties in the
smaller states, mainly in Eastern Europe, without partners, which could help UKIP.

Unquote

There are many earlier posts on this blog regarding the EPP and the forced abstention of Tory MEPs in the recent Motion of Censure against the Commission over the Eurostat scandals. Worse is the true nature of its appallingly federalist manifesto, which calls for European defence separate from Nato follows and can be read in full from this link:- EPP Manifesto.

Another New Link

May I recommend another new link well worth a visit by any interested in understanding the true postion of today's Tories:-

New Alliance

We will be adding it to our side bar during today, meantime give a few quotes regarding Michael Howard as a sample:-

He was immediately congratulated for his "belief in mutual support and friendship" by Wilfried Martens, leader of the federalist EPP. His wish to "lead from the centre" - is also the EPP's preferred view of itself4.

Days later, on 4/5 December 2003, he attended the Paris Summit of the EPP, which made plans for the IGC and the proposed EU Constitution5.

Previously hailed as 'Eurosceptic', Howard then changed Iain Duncan Smith's decision for Tory MEPs to leave the federalist EPP-ED group in the European Parliament.

Although Conservative Central Office (CCO) justified this on the grounds of more EU money for the 'Conservative' wing ('ED') and more freedom to voice dissenting views6, EPP-ED Leader, Hans Gert Pottering has confirmed that "The Group will remain fully committed to European integration"7.

Unquote

Visit the site to access the footnotes and learn much more!

DANGER FOR TORY EUROSCEPTICS

The Independent this morning has an article linked here, with the headline - "Tories could take Britain out of Europe, says Blair"

This is a scare tactic, based on the voters supposed reluctance to wish to change the status quo, and play on their fears that 'Little Britain' may be unable to fend for itself on its own. These fears exist because they have been put there by the politicians of the three mainstream political parties and the insular chattering classes. It is of course blind ignorance, but an ignorance due to an inability to see obvious truths. Hard facts which will now become increasingly clear as the crisis within the EU accelerates as it deepens and becomes daily ever more impossible to ignore (even from the green and red benches of the Palace of Westminster).

The danger for all Eurosrealists is of course, that the voters may believe Blair's latest set of lies and presume that the Tories really might remove us from Europe.

Howard was IMO appointed to replace IDS, precisely to remove any danger of that happening. Howard is leader to ensure that Britain remains in Europe! Howard is no longer a Eurosceptic, if ever he was one he appears to have sacrificed those belifs for his chance of the premiership! His policies and appointments since taking over make that clear, they seem to leave no room for any other conclusion. Any who retain doubts must explain the decision to remain within the EPP group in the next EP session, a strange decision that has been kept very quiet and made graver by the fact that it was taken just AFTER the publication of the EPP manifesto - advocating among other horrors, EU defence separate from Nato.

Nobody should be fooled into believing that a vote for Howard's Conservatives is in any way a vote against the corrupt and decadent EU, or anything it has come to stand for (namely none of its stated founding principles) - because it is not!

All politicians advocating continued membership of this proven unreformable and corrupt institution are either ill-informed (for which, after so many years there is no longer any excuse), blind to reality or motivated towards ends they are keeping concealed.

The Conservative Party deserves to be decimated, Eurosceptics included, on 10th June unless they start to tell the full truth on the EU which is now increasingly impossible to hide. The myth that staying within the EU is in the best intersts of Britain might just last though this campaign, but, in my opinion, it will not make it through the following general election

A good summary of the true situation from the NYT/IHT may be read from here 'Why Britain should vote no to the EU Constitution' (It quotes Jaques Delors estimating the EU now has only a 50/50 chance of survival - does that guess alone not make our three main parties and their leaders look completely absurd in the public pretence and name-calling, that even considering alternatives outside the EU LACKS???? political sense or foresight?)

Britain can rarely have been so badly served by the leaders of its three political parties: Blair, Howard and Kennedy can none of them muster more than 30 per cent approval ratings from the public. Shamefully, in my personal view the least desirable next leader of the three is the one who at this stage of the electoral cycle, should be riding high in the polls on the back of the Governments unpopularity, but most clearly is not - the Leader of Her Majesty's Opposition Michael Howard, who as again demonstrated in the Bashir Khanbai case (see below) is proving himself quite unfit to lead.

Tory MEP told 'Stay Away'

EDP24 from Norfolk linked from here reports that the Tory expenses scam MEP has been requested to stay away from certain Eastern Region constituencies during the campaign.

If the Constituency leaders feel so strongly, one wonders what are their true thoughts about their own party leadership who are fully supporting Mr Khanbai, overlooking his scam and thereby condoning the posting of false information on an MEP's web-site, clearly designed to deliberately mislead his constituents?

Apparently as far as Dr Liam Fox and Michael Howard are concerned, if the money has come back....No Problem! No wonder they aim to be the biggest British party in the EU after 10th June so that they can keep us in Europe with the federalist EPP and keep the money coming! After all the money is what matters - certainly nothing else it seems!

New Link to 'Tory Trouble' a Recent New Blog

We are adding another link to our side-bar, for a blog titled Tory Trouble - Plumbing the Depths of the Conservative Party which may be also reached from this link.

As recent events have shown, there are plenty of depths to plumb and the more blogs involved in the task, the more chance that the problems can be identified, and who knows - perhaps even solved!!

Will Boris be neutered following his elevation?

Howe warns Howard over EU

Sounding every inch the EU-Imperialist (see this morning's Ironies post), Geoffrey Howe attacked any opposition to the new constitution on GMTV this morning. See this report in The Scotsman Howe Warns Howard over Europe Stance.

Meantime Prime Minister Blair totally dedicated to the expansionist goals of the EU Empire is due to hold a joint propaganda television event with students in Paris on this contrived and newly named Europe day, A fuller report may be read from EU Business linked here.

Is it not past time for the differing factions within the Conservative Party to drop their sham positions over the EU, divide themselves in accordance with their own true beliefs and clearly state what those are - at least for the one full month of the European Parliamentary election campaign?

Grass Root Revolt over Howard's Determination to retain Lying, Expense Fiddling MEP!

Could the hesitation be because Howard knows once one goes the flood gates will have to open. The latest report from EDP linked here reports as follows:-

The chairman of the Waveney Conservatives, May Reader, revealed she had written to the co-chairman of the national party, Liam Fox, stressing that "it is the opinion of this association that Bashir Khanbhai be compelled to resign with immediate effect".

The letter – copied to other Tory leaders and to the EDP – also warned that the matter must be dealt with "promptly" if the Conservatives are to have any success in next month's elections and "reassure the electorate that we will not, as a party, tolerate this type of behaviour".

The trouble of course with that line, and particularly the latter statement, being that this is exactly the kind of behaviour that the Tory Party does seem to now represent. A rum note is struck in all this when one considers how the present leader gained his position during the hypocrtitical accusations over the later disproved allegations regarding the party earnings of IDS's wife. The tendency to ignore the opinion of local activists is exactly in line with the way the present party leadership ignored grass root opinion by disposing of a democratically elected leader and resorted to goodness knows 'what' in selecting a now proven similarly unpopular successor.

Is this another means of thwarting any anti-EU voting choice for Britain in the upcoming elections? More on that topic was blogged in the first post of today on UKIP Uncovered in a post titled 'Euro-scepticism's Enemies Within'

Double Standards of Expense Scam Revelations

In the posts below the matter of a Conservative MEP who returned seven thousand pounds of unjustified expenses is covered in some detail. Michael Howard has decreed that no further action be taken as if the money was the major if not sole matter of concern raised by the whole affair.

That is very far from being the case. In Thursday's press report from 'The Scotsman' we learnt :-

"Mr Khanbhai lives in Sevenoaks, Kent, but his website also lists an address in Wroxham, Norfolk.

It emerged earlier this year that the Wroxham address did not exist and that post sent to there was delivered to a nearby boat yard to await collection."

While this further detail was provided by the Eastern Daily Press:-

The EDP revealed in February that the Wroxham address - 57 Peninsula Cottage, Staitheway Road - at which Mr Khanbhai invited constituents to contact him, could not be a home or an office because there was no building on the land.

It exists for mailing purposes, and letters sent there go to the office of an adjoining boatyard.

Mr Khanbhai's error is believed to lie in his claiming travel allowance on journeys between Heathrow airport and the Wroxham address. His family home is in Sevenoaks, Kent.

So there was a clear attempt to deceive his constituents, not just claiming a false address, but using one that did not even exist. Then again there is the matter of the expenses being claimed between Heathrow to Wroxham- when in fact we have evidence from the Press Conference at Stansted following the announcement of Martin Bell's Eastern Region candidature that he actually travelled to that far closer airport.

Michael Howard's Conservative Party considers that now the money has been repaid there is no further cause for concern - that speaks volumes on Howard's Conservative Party!

Naturally the question of what actual air fare Khanbai and his colleagues were claiming for the Ryan Air flights from Strasbourg to Stansted, rather than the national carrier fares which would have applied had he really landed at Heathrow, appear to be going uninvestigated. Probing into that mess might result in no sitting MEPs standing at all!

Breaking News - Standards Expected of MEPs!

The Scotsman continuing its coverage of the expenses re-paying Conservative MEP, Bashir Khanbhai, on which we linked yesterday, today reports that the MEP still has Mr Howards backing, although the amount repaid has now been revealed as seven thousand pounds.

Seven thousand pounds, for what we were informed were merely travel expenses between a UK airport and a fake houseboat or address in Norfolk. We recall that Mr Khanbai was at the Stansted Hilton press conference held by returning Eastern Region MEPs after the announcement of Martin Bell's MEP candidature. Are we then to believe that the MEPs seven thousand pound EXCESS claims were really for regular journies between Stansted and Norfolk, how many hundreds of such trips could there possibly have been?.

Most amusing section of the report, linked here, is this wonderful paragraph:-

A Conservative Party committee had earlier concluded that Mr Khanbhai’s “disregard for (the) rules and the correct procedure for claiming allowances fell below the standard expected of a member of the European Parliament”.

A Conservative party committee may delude themselves, but the electorate across Europe are well aware that MEPs of whatever party know neither restraint of any sort while emptying the public purse, nor all but 83 of them, standards in guaging the corruption of their fellow EU institutions, as witnessed in the disgraceful abstentions of so many Conservative MEPs in the censure motion this week.

Nominations are now open for the 10th June elections. We hope that all regions will offer the chance for a vote for a list or independent not previously represented at the Strasbourg Cesspit - we strongly recommend that no sitting MEP is worthy of re-election FIVE YEARS AT THE TROUGH IS ENOUGH!

Howard Urged to de-select Tory MEP

Expense scam Conservative MEP should be de-selected by Howard, claims a Labour party opponent. As it seems to involve a travel expense scam, such a precedent could leave several party lists decimated if all the press reports on such abuses are even only half true. The Scotsman carries details linked here while the case of Mr Khanbai Eastern Region MEP, where Martin Bell is mounting an independent challange, also gets coverage in Financial Times, Eastern Daily Press and East Anglian Daily Times.

Kilroy-Silk to run for UKIP in East Midlands

As mentioned in our posting of earlier today, and exclusively forecast on our sister blog UKIP Uncovered last Saturday morning Robert Kilroy-Silk is to run as an MEP for UKIP in the East Midlands on 10th June.

ITV.com's report on this topic of this evening is linked here .

Tory Press in Full Election Mode

Following the Torygraph's hype of Howard's latest awful poll results (discussed earlier below), the 'Evening Standard' then took up the same theme with the most incredible distortion of the actual YouGov Poll figures.

Today in an article (linked here) ostensibly about the twent-fifth anniversary of Thatcher's first election, The Telegraph again returns to distort the truth and opens its long attempt to transfer some Thatcher aura to Howard as follows:-

Last night, when Margaret Thatcher and Michael Howard sat down together at a glittering dinner in the Savoy, they had more to celebrate than just the election of a Conservative Government twenty-five years earlier. An opinion poll in this newspaper had shown that morning that Howard was level pegging with Tony Blair as the man voters thought best qualified to be Prime Minister - a rare achievement for an Opposition leader and the first time this has occurred since Blair took office.

It is worth taking a closer look at this RARE ACHIEVEMENT as trumpeted by the Tories in this detail from the most recent YouGov polling data of Blair and Howard's approval ratings:-

Date---------------Blair-----------------Howard

January------------31--------------------29

February-----------32--------------------28

March--------------32--------------------29

April----------------29--------------------29

Surge in the Polls by Howard - it is not. All that has happened is that Blair has finally been sussed out by most of the British public. Yet even after all the recent revelations, the electorate now only distrusts him to the same degree as Howard, whose figures seem implacable.

The Poll figures speak volumes on the quality of leadership of Britain's main political parties, AND even more on the judgement of their members who raised them so high and in spite of all, still tolerate their continuing in office.

The manner in which such polls are reported also speaks volumes on the independence and lack of objectivity of some sections of the press.

The stupidity of we, the public, is also worth pondering in considering all the above.

Twenty-five years ago today, following Thatcher's electoral success and full of hope for the future of the country - I, personally, resolved to return to England from a high-powered, high-paid post in Texas to try to help with the restoration of my country (having left in desperation not long before in disgust with the Labour Party). How far away those hopes now seem - and how deep has been the descent of the Conservative Party from the ideals set by Mrs Thatcher! Can it really be twenty-five years?

Tory Tosh on Corruption

Any wishing to read a load of disingenuous claptrap on corruption from the Conservative Party leader in the European Parliament, trying to justify his disgraceful subservience to the German head of the EPP, may click here.

Those wishing to learn the MEP names, personal details and constituencies of the conservative creeps, who followed their leader into abstaining in yesterday's vote on the motion of censure against the EU Commission over their handling of the obvious deep and embedded EU corruption, should click on any of the names below:-

Atkins, Balfe, Beazley, Bowis, Bradbourn, Bushill-Mathews, Chichester, Corrie, Deva, Dover, Elles, Evans, Foster, Harbour, Inglewood, Jackson, Khanbai, Kirkhope, McMillan-Scott,
Parish, Perry, Provan , Purvis, Stevenson, Stockton, Sturdy, Tannock, Twinn, Van Orden.

It would appear that in only two regions of Britain can an anti-EU vote be cast for a Conservative list completely free of the names of any the above craven individuals. The first is in the East Midlands where Roger Helmer and Chris Heaton-Harris (one of the leading forces behind the motion and one who resigned his post as EP Chief Whip in protest at the dirty shenanigans that surrounded this event) both voted for the motion of censure. The second is the North East where Martin Callanan also voted against.

In the latter case there is a strong Independent Candidate, Neil Herron, running who has the support of this blog. In the East Midlands we are waiting for further information regarding the possible removal of UKIP's elderly lead candidate, the ex-Party Secretary Derek Clark, who rumours last weekend indicated might be replaced by a high-profile celebrity candidate. (See our sister blog UKIP Uncovered). The choice in this region already looks the toughest in the country with two such stalwart anti-EU Tories, if Clark remains as UKIP's man it will become considerably easier, in view of both his and his party's clear character flaws as detailed at length on that blog!