Czechs dash Cameron's EPP schemes

The following is part of a report from Prague, which may be read in full by clicking here:

ODS not to leave EPP-ED faction in European Parliament

Prague- The right-wing Civic Democratic Party (ODS) eventually will not leave the biggest faction in the European Parliament, the European People's Party-European Democrats (EPP-ED), ODS MEP group head Jan Zahradil writes in the daily Mlada fronta Dnes (MfD).

"We are willing to postpone our planned negotiations about the formation of a new Euro-realist faction in the European Parliament so that they don't collide with talks about the formation of a new Czech government. This project should not become a hostage in political negotiations on the Czech scene," Zahradil writes.

It was Zahradil who repeatedly held talks especially with the British Conservative MEPs about the possible new faction, the paper writes.

ODS chairman Mirek Topolanek confirmed Zahradil's statement.

Bromley and Czech 'Mission Impossible' consign Cameron to irrelevance

As many of the once Tory voters of Bromley and Chislehurst either stayed at home or transferred their allegiance to other political parties the now clearly doomed David Cameron flew to the Czech Republic to try and find some means to avoid reneging on his commitment to leave the EPP.

The Czech press reported this as follows:

Cameron went to Prague only two days before the ultimatum of Eurosceptics within the Conservative Party who would ask him to fulfil his promises and withdraw the Tories from the EPP-ED, Telegraph wrote.

The daily Lidove noviny (LN) reported on Friday that ODS foreign secretary Adela Kadlecova confirmed Cameron had met Topolanek.

"However, we have agreed not to release any details [from the meeting] in public," she told the paper.

It is not certain whether the ODS is still considering leaving the EPP-ED group.

Jan Zahradil, head of the ODS MEPs, refused to comment on it.

ODS MEP Milan Cabrnoch told Lidove noviny only that "the ODS group in the EP is prepared to seriously consider withdrawing from the EPP-ED group."

Cameron is Scottish First

Interviewed in the garden of his Oxfordshire colonial home by fellow Scot, Andrew Marr, for yesterday morning's regular BBC One weekly dose of presumably Scottish aimed light political chat and supposed entertainment, Vapid Cameron, in response to a question as to whether he would do anything to correct the inequitable Barnet formula under which the Scots are hugely subsidised by the English and whether or not he would consider addressing the affront to English democratic rights caused by the recent devolution of powers to the Scottish Assembly - answered both points effectively in the negative - giving as his reason 'after all I am a Cameron'

Conservative voters in Bromley and Chislehurst might consider a suitable protest vote on this occasion could be a vote for the candidate from the English Democrat party on 29th June!

The wider electorate will no doubt bear this in mind as the Scottish and EU destruction of our democracy continues apace.

Uncool Cameron on EPP

This opinion piece by Rachel Sylvester in today's Telegraph, confirms the gravity of the EPP crisis for Cameron as repeatedly argued on this blog. The opening and concluding (in bold) paragraphs are quote below, but the entire article is equally interesting:


It is difficult to shake David Cameron's cool. His natural state is one of calm, collected Old Etonian charm. He is all open-necked shirts and smoothies. But I once saw him really lose it.

When Alice Thomson and I last interviewed him, about three months ago, we mentioned, in passing, his commitment to pull his MEPs out of the European People's Party.

In return we got an absolute diatribe. "Can we please not talk about the EPP?" he barked, with genuine anger in his voice. "I'm sick to death of the EPP. It's so boring."

........

This whole thing is no longer about parliamentary groupings. It is about Mr Cameron's credibility, authority and integrity. It is difficult to see a happy outcome. No wonder it makes the Tory leader hot under the (open) collar.

Cameron's EPP crisis deepens

The following is the headline of a report (linked here) in today's Sunday Telegraph:

'Cameron gives Hague month to get MEPs out of Brussels group'

This blog conitinues to believe, in spite of Cameron's statements to the contrary, that the Conservative Party MEPs will remain with the extreme federalist EPP grouping in the European Parliament. Blair's attack on the promised withdrawal at last Wednesday's PMQ would be quite enough to scare the Tory establishment pulling the Cameron strings or working the glove as the case may be quite out of their few remaining wits.

The two newspapers in the Telegraph stable appear to have been competing this weekend to see which of them could produce the most asinine Leading Article. Read Saturday's DT from this link and today's ST from here, and make your own mind up. To my mind the Daily Telegraph wins on stupidity by only a very small margin.

Cameron NOW to accept EU's theft of Britain's Fisheries

The article by Toby Helm, deriving from William Hague's speech of yesterday which appears in this morning's Daily Telegraph, may be read in full by clicking here.

Meantime this morning the Lib/Dems have gathered much publicity by trumpeting themselves as a future tax cutting party offering 2p off the standard income tax and raised personal allowances - can even Cameron's sanity now not be thrown into doubt?

Cameron approaches EU treachery

As always predicted by this blog from the very beginnings, proof that the unprincipled pin-up of UK politics gained his party's leadership by deceit gets daily closer.

The Daily Telegraph report of today, headlined 'Cameron backtracks on Tories' EU stance' may be read from here.

Democracy???????

The following is a statement made by Vapid Cameron in defence of his A-List of party candidates:

“Anyone who believes in party democracy should wholeheartedly support the drive to get more women and BME [black minority ethnic] candidates selected in safe and winnable seats. We’ve been willing the end; it’s time we willed the means as well,”

The new conservative party leader clearly has no idea as to what true democracy really means.

This blog remains entirely sceptical as to the democratic credentials of Cameron himself. Just how did the YouGov organisation continue to publish poll results with Cameron way ahead in the leadership election without some collusion from Central Office as to membership lists and even apparently such detail as the names of those polled who had already voted and those who had yet to do so. How representative could such sampling have possibly been? We seem to remain alone in posing this absolutely crucial question. As each month passes it becomes ever more plain that the Conservative Party has been hi-jacked by the entire philosophy of New Labour, leaving the country condemned to continuing totally incompetent and self-opportunistic governance.

Cameron's latest statement proving he believes democracy can survive manipulation makes me even more doubtful regarding the means of his own election. Did two thirds of the Conservative Party really fall for this shallow pinup conman? Speaks volumes on them if they did!

Democracy entails the acceptance of the will of the majority with voting being made without central interference or other forms of coercion however applied! Cameron has therefore publicly declared himself beyond democracy.

Democrats in Bromley now have the opportunity of demonstrating their disgust, as both UKIP and an Independent Conservative have declared they will run and thankfully the anti-democratic A-List candidates have been rejected.

Heseltine and Clarke on Question Time

If Vapid is modernising the Conservatives, why do we see nothing but the worst of the old bunch on the main populist political forum?

A tragic end to the line?

Leaders of the Conservative Party
The Duke of Wellington, Sir Robert Peel, The Earl of Derby, Benjamin Disraeli, The Marquess of Salisbury, Arthur Balfour, Andrew Bonar Law, Stanley Baldwin, Neville Chamberlain, Winston Churchill, Anthony Eden, Harold Macmillan, Sir Alec Douglas-Home, Edward Heath, Margaret Thatcher, John Major, William Hague, Iain Duncan Smith, Michael Howard, David Cameron

Vapid in virgin "snow"

The following comments are on the Guardian comment page relating to the blatant photo-op that was at least effective for the junior member of my family...." Tony Blair wouldn't do that"!!!!

stumpy

April 21, 2006 04:31 PM

Marseille/fra

Well, I suppose he was able to get his hands on some good "snow" out there, or do I mean crack?

[Offensive? Unsuitable? Report this comment.]

Barny

April 21, 2006 05:10 PM

Paris/fra

I heard he is cycling back.

Priceless! That's wit (and I am serious...still laughing....)

[Offensive? Unsuitable? Report this comment.]

Time to Quit

Francis Maude whose own position as Conservative Party Chairman, can only be based upon nepotism it appears to me, has called on his Shadow Cabinet colleagues who have criticised Vapid to quit. Read the Telegraph report from here. It begins as follows:

Francis Maude, the Conservative Party chairman, tried to silence critics of David Cameron's leadership yesterday, telling them to "shut up" or quit the shadow cabinet.

As these seem the only thinking members left in the party perhaps they should go the whole way and start completely afresh, the 5th May election results might yet provide a suitable and obvious trigger.

Never has the time for a new political grouping seemed more fortuitous.

Chameleons have backbones

New Labour's new campaign, report linked here, seems misplaced.

Why flatter your opponent?

Vapid is ephemeral taking whatever form or shape he pleases but forever lacking substance!

Cameron's corruption catastrophe

As police inquiries turn to Government contracts, what a tragedy that by rushing to meet Blair as the crisis unfolded, Vapid Cameron has now, by implication, associated the Conservative Party as co-conspirators in the public mind.

If 300 police are now engaged in the investigations as reported by the Scottish Sunday press - and their attentions are apparently being drawn to areas wider than Honours, what a lost opportunity this will prove for Britain's supposed main opposition party.

Most of my blogging on this unfolding drama will be on Ironies Too, linked here.

Horrible Heseltine Revived

The Tory Party Conference in Manchester today that will be opened by Chairman Maude, whose description the party's twenty decline is splattered across the morning media, will ironically field as star speaker Michael Heseltine the man most responsible for this long period of growing electoral disgust. The Independent article, linked here, refers.

Cameron's Chairman concedes defeat

Read it from tonight's Evening Standard, quoted below:

'Tory prospects gloomy'- Maude
6 April 2006

Tory chairman Francis Maude has painted a gloomy picture of his party's prospects on the eve of David Cameron's first Conservative conference as leader.

Mr Maude admitted his party may not win the next election and said it faced an uphill battle to persuade voters to put Mr Cameron in No 10."

On the day Cameron's environment policy was described as a sham by his own patry spokeswoman on that topic in the EU, the total sham that is David Cameron now seems to have been recognised even by his own Party Chairman.

Meanwhile the party's former leader, William Hague, Shadow Foreign Secretary is in Darfur, presumably while fulfilling his parliamentary functions. This blog has previously noted this individuals shameful conflicts between money making and politics - can this be the explanation for identical reports from Hague being filed - the first as an exclusive to Sky News from which he sounded like an employee - the second identical video item but this time billed as a Five News Exclusive??

Tarnished Tories indeed - apparently seeking to capitalise on a human tragedy of such dimensions!

No wonder even the Party Chairman seems to now recognises that this is a party that can never be made electable again.

They borrowed MILLIONS for THIS????

The election expenditure by the Conservative Party, reputed to be eighteen million pounds is fleshed out in this report from the Sunday Herald linked from here.

Among the minor detail is the fact that ..."Cameron, the present party leader who was then education spokesman, ran up a £3084 chopper bill,"....... surely the only place worth sending Cameron by helicopter is somewhere outside the country ... wouldn't a cheap Channel ferry or Easyjet fare equally do the trick?

Now the present conservative party membership or gullible Tory honours seekers or the EPP or other European Parliament paymasters will be saddled with re-paying these loans.

Unless, of course, today's cartel meeting is sucessful and the two shameful individuals now leading Britain's alternately governing political parties manage to cook up something new, and no doubt even more devious, to lumber British taxpayers with yet more obligations to fund their patent self-advancement.

The main scam, let us not forget, remains the EU Parliament which guarantees vast sums extracted from unknowing taxpayers for delivery direct to the national parties. Honours etc., which remain hangovers from an earlier age of comparatively straight political dealing (where the interests of the country and its people once figured) could, however, be the cause of the downfall of our present- clearly crooked - political elite!

Surely never in the past has ennoblement been so nakedly advanced for political power, preferment and advance?

Cameron's Conservative MEPs still in the EPP

The mainly Christian Democrat and German led EPP met for their annual conference in Rome and decided the EU Constitution should be re-submitted as it now stands.

The BBC World at One reporter reckons Cameron's clowns will still be in the EPP group this time next year and this in spite of their supposed party leader's promise to have them out before last Christmas.

The German Pope addressed the EPP delegates to add a final touch of farce to this total insult to voting Tory party members. Read that report from this link.

The Telegraph this morning reports Vapid's support fell two points this month and once again the party is behind Labour .... even with Tessa Jowell and the loans scandal surrounding Tony Blair.

Don't say you weren't warned!!!!

CRINGE

After the policy speech, chat show exposure and Vapid's interview on Radio Four this morning...... how can any honest Tory MP elected on the manifesto of 2006 (or those before), now remain within the con party?

This question seems particularly applicable to the earlier PARTY LEADERS now serving under the ever slimier, ever ostensibly greener but now self-confessesd ..... disposable nappy addict .... David Cameron.

If only his use of other harmful substances could have produced such honesty!

This blog guesses that in view of the clear character weaknesses and suggestions of past uncontrolled excesses of the present Tory leader his indecent trumpeting of his devotion to rather frumpy wife and three toddlers will bring about his early disgrace in some kind of sex scandal sensation. He seems ripe for a typical News of the World ' sting' operation! For Britain the sooner the better perhaps - but where is any obvious successor to the present opportunistic and shameless Leader of the Opposition?

Oh my Goodness! I hope not the equally pale and shallow looking Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer......... what think the likes of Paterson, Redwood etc....as ever we will never know!

The Conservative Cameron Crisis Continued!

In the March edition of Prospect Magazine, linked here, comes this telling comment:

Cameron supporters point to a rise in party support among the ABs and younger voters at the expense of the Liberal Democrats. Yet the risks attached to Cameron's strategy are much more profound than those measurable by day-to-day opinion polls. And Cameron should be worried that the party's new direction is treated with thinly disguised contempt by the policy experts, opinion-formers and intellectuals clustered round many of the Tory think tanks. He should be concerned about important donors, who are unlikely to feel much sympathy for an approach that is hostile to enterprise and markets and accepts the New Labour status quo. But, above all, he should be having sleepless nights about what he is doing to bedrock Conservative support in the country.

The following appeared in a recent briefing from the European Journal in London:

In the January Strasbourg session of the European parliament, East Anglia Conservative MEP Chris Beazley chose to defy the whip, and to break a clear manifesto commitment, by supporting the Duff report calling for the resurrection of the EU Constitution. Later in the month, Edward Macmillan-Scott MEP, former leader of the Conservative delegation in Brussels, accused Party Leader David Cameron of "working towards the centre at home and yet moving to the extreme right abroad as fast as he can". Neither of these incidents seems to have attracted any disciplinary action from the whips' office.

Yet the whip has still not been restored to another Tory MEP, Roger Helmer, whose only offence was to fulfil a clear manifesto commitment to oppose fraud, and to embarrass the leadership of the Tory delegation by roundly criticising the EPP, who had sought to sweep allegations of improper behaviour under the carpet.

Just by coincidence, the MEPs who are keeping Helmer out of the delegation are the same ones who are opposing David Cameron's policy on leaving the EPP.

An article by Roger Helmer on the EPP question may be read in Freedom Today by clicking here.

Mr Floppy, Flip-flop and Failure? .... Vapid gains more telling tags

Once again this blog has been at the forefront in correctly analysing the disastrous failings of recent Tory leadership selections.

Some of the most recent press criticisms and reports may be read from here, here and watch this space as the reduced vote and percentage share for the Tories in Dunfermline begins to sink in.

Cameron's Conservatives crushed in crucial first by-election test

The full results are avaiable from the By-Elections blog linked from here.

While Labour's loss may rightly be receiving the most mainstream media coverage, the setback for the new Tory leader might well be equally significant. Isn't it traditional Labour support that he is supposed to be capturing? Weren't the Lib/Dems presumed to be in disarray following the leadership revelations?

Cameron's crumbling credibility increasingly exposed

PM questions this week should have been a golden opportunity for the new leader of the opposotion to deliver a death blow to a battered Premier whose government had twice been defeated the evening before.

Instead the Conservative MPs could merely meekly watch as Blair quoted line after line of Cameron's own contradictory stances on selection between schools. What a disastrous choice of leader the main British opposition party has indeed made.

The EPP problem is now coming to a head and is even deemed worthy of some coverage in today's Daily Telegraph, which article may be read from this link.

How will the betrayed eurosceptic Conservative party members react when the now apparently inevitable betrayal by Vapid Cameron over the EPP eventually takes place.

It is a pity that the UK Independence Party has allowed Nigel Farage MEP to continue to make that alternative an impossibility. Read this post on UKIP Uncovered for details.

Cameron's Conservative Chaos

"Pol Pot" is apparently going to be Norman Tebbit's comparison according to the Telegraph, read from here.

Meanwhile the BBC reports on the increasing revolt over the EPP linked here.

Any who watched the Politics Programme over the weekend and seen William Hague will need no further details of the extent of the treachery brewing on that topic. Will any party in Europe want to be linked with this unscrupulous bunch must soon become the sole interesting question with any topicality?

As Cameron's TV appearances become more regular and his policy betrayals increase, does not the slime ball odiousness become evermore obvious? Perhaps its just my jaundiced view!

A Couple of Creeps

Watching Cameron and Osborne appear on the same platform on TV brings crashing home the complete shallowness and inexperience of the leadership team the Conservative membership has selected for its party. Maybe the immature and non-voting section of the British electorate can be won over by such types, thinking voters will look elsewhere. The opening of the Daily Telegraph report with photograph gives the flavour:

David Cameron was on course for confrontation with the Tory Right last night after promising to put the pursuit of economic stability above the need for tax cuts.

In another shift towards the centre ground, the Tory leader and his shadow chancellor, George Osborne, argued that reducing tax would be relegated from the list of top priorities at the next election.

George Osborne and David Cameron at the Cass Business School in London yesterday

The entire article may be read from this link.

Power is all?

Michael Portillo on 'This Week...' stated a politician's sole goal was to gain power - the implication being that saying and promising anything to do so was thus acceptable.

This seems to me to be the total negation of all the principles of democracy, Blairite to the extreme but probably only to be expected from one of the original modernisers of those now running what was once a political party with if not many principles ... then at least some basic beliefs which they were then not afraid to speak and argue!

To me a politicians duty is to argue his deeply held beliefs to the best of his ability and if then voted to office to strive to put such beliefs into effect.

If all parties lie to gain power (as all now seem to be doing by striving to gain votes by winning the imaginery middle-ground) the voters are then left to just guess the real motives and objectives of each respective party or more likely the individual scoundrel who has temporarily gained the leadership spot?

According to the slit-eyed Portillo, slouched acrtoss the studio couch alongside his equally cynical Labour MP pundit, that would indeed seem to be the case.

Can the Conservative Party really have sunk this low. Who will call Portillo to account in the mainstream media?

Vapid threatens his rebel MEPs with Deselection!

The report in the Telegraph may be read from here.

Tories continue within the EPP

Click here to see them listed from the EPP website. Only Roger Helmer MEP for the East Midlands is missing.

Shame on Vapid Cameron who had promised Daniel Hannan MEP that the Tories would be out of the group before last Christmas.

What worth Cameron's other promises whether on the NHS last week or today on education?

Next week we will see the first plenary session of the European Parliament for 2006. Will the Conservative MEPs then be forced to take their place as usual among the fanatical federalists of the EPP from the other ex-nation states?

Reference items

Sunday Telegraph columns worth reading are Christopher Booker linked here and Norman Tebbit from here.

Lib/Dems revive hopes for Democracy

The British public might have one largish political party with a straightforward and honest leader at the next general election after all (possibly even clearly English) following today's resignation of the now admitted alcoholic Charles Kennedy.

Yes, British politics could be about to become interesting again.... with one last chance for DEMOCRACY to survive. Times Online has this summary of potential leaders for the now well placed third party - I quote this tidbit from the entry for David Laws:

Mr Laws also called for limits on European Union powers and an end to the Common Agricultural Policy.

Other potential candidates also appear to have credentials that should make Blair, Brown and Cameron quake, if only the Lib/Dem membership base that will select the winner could be rapidly broadened!!!

Daily Telegraph Leading Article urges Cameron to honour his EPP promise!!

The item is linked from here.

I fear it is now too late, for were Cameron to really go against his all too obvious natural character and live up to the exact intent of his sole firm pledge - the Tories would have been out of the EPP before last weekend!

Blair, Brown, Cameron and Kennedy - what hope for Britain?

EPP - Six days and counting

Daniel Hannan, to whom Vapid made the promise of having the Tories out of the EPP by Christmas, made a rather weak attempt to further justify the move in yesterday's Sunday Telegraph, linked here.

THE MAIN REASON CAMERON HAS TO ACT THIS WEEK IS THAT IF HE DOES NOT - HE WILL BE EXPOSED FOR THE TWO FACED OPPORTUNISTIC HYPOCRITE THAT THIS BLOG HAD SUSPECTED FROM THE START.

If on Boxing Day morning the Conservative Party is still within the EPP, then Cameron's election to the party leadership would have been gained on the back of one of the biggest lies in modern day politics - and that really is saying something!

Daniel Hannan MEP on Cameron and the EPP

The following quotation comes from the above MEP's web site and is extracted from an item dated 31st October 2005 and titled 'Its got to be Cameron' linked here, in which he urges party members to vote for Vapid. Emphasis has been added by me:


Quote

As regular recipients of these bulletins will know, Conservative MEPs have spent the past 13 years in an unhappy mésalliance with the federalist European People's Party. To his credit, Michael Howard substantially improved the terms of the deal, but the essential problem has not gone away. As long as we sit with the most Euro-fanatic bloc in Strasbourg, people will not believe that we can be trusted on the EU. Voters will assume that we are saying one thing in Britain and doing another in Brussels - and, God forgive us, they will have a point.

Here is an issue which is immediate and vital. It may not set the world alight, but it will be a token of a new leader's good faith - an indication, in Opposition, of how he plans to behave in Government.

There is a clear division between the candidates on this question. David Cameron would remove us from the EPP grouping immediately; David Davis would leave the decision to MEPs, a majority of whom favour the status quo. With Cameron, we'll be out of the EPP by Christmas; with Davis, we'll still have this albatross dragging us deckwards at the next European election.

That alone ought to answer those who wonder how much substance there is to David Cameron. On the one issue which he would have to decide within days of taking over, the one which he must have been most tempted to fudge, he has been unequivocal and bold.

Unquote

How many Conservative Party members voted for Vapid on the basis of this and similar assurances from both MPs and MEPs.

Will Cameron have the balls to stand by his sole promise given in the campaign, or will he cave in to the eurofanatics within his own party and pressure from the likes of Merkel and Sarkozy on the Continent as once again reported this morning in The Times, linked from here.

FT weighs in once more on EPP withdrawal - Vapid's vacillation drags on!

The latest pressure on the wavering and increasingly hapless looking new Tory leader may be read from here. It is headlined as follows -

EU conservatives threaten Tories with isolation
By Frederick Studemann, Political Correspondent
Published: December 15 2005 17:20

The final paragraph quoted below contains a curious contradiction:

There has been mounting fury among fellow EPP parties over Mr Cameron’s stance. Many feel that the Tories already enjoy a privileged position within the EPP thanks to exceptional terms of association negotiated when the(y) joined the grouping.

Surely if the Tories have been so pampered the other parties should be delighted to see such favouritism come to an end?

Another interesting analysis of the matter appears in the Times of Malta linked here.

What did Cameron promise Cash?

I had earlier reported the 'before Christmas' statement was made at Frimley, but now believe it was there Vapid actually started to backtrack stating he would hand the timing of the withdrawal to his shadow foreign secretary.

The best information I can presently obtain is this from the Guy Fawkes blog on 21st November, linked here:

Apparently Cameron has promised Bill Cash and Daniel Hannan that Tory MEPs will be out of the EPP by the end of Cameron's first week as leader. If wet Europhile Tory MEPs want to make an issue of it - all the better - a fight with them will be a pleasure. A move that will undermine UKIP to the point of extinction and pacify a right-wing base that is a little nervous about where Cameron is going to take them.

So either Hannan or Cash can probably confirm the time scale - if it were only one week then Vapid has already broken his promise - and rather than win over UKIP members to the Tories as was always the obvious intention of the move, it could immediately begin to have the reverse effect.

German Chancellor intervenes over Cameron, the Conservative Party and the EPP

The report of such an intervention appears in The Guardian and is linked from here.

Many in Britain might find such meddling inappropriate, only because the majority in Britain have not been following the reality of their country's loss of independence.

Cameron's increasingly likely abandonment of his firm promise to remove his party from the EPP before Christmas will highlight the truth of where the real power now lies in the non-democratic EU.

So maybe this publicity will prove positive!

Conservative MEPs' (Roger Helmer and Chris Heaton-Harris) brief on the EPP Issue

THE EPP ISSUE

There has been a lot of coverage in the media about David Cameron's decision to take Conservative MEPs out of the EPP group, and a great deal of misinformation. Now Roger Helmer and Chris Heaton-Harris set out the facts as they see them.

The need for consistency

You may have seen the recent press coverage concerning the Conservative MEPs’ relationship with the ultra-federalist European People’s Party. David Cameron has been attacked by several Euro-enthusiasts for promising to end this unhappy link.

It is usually the way in politics that, when a change is proposed, its opponents become hyper-active while its supporters sit back and take things for granted. I hope, though, that, on this issue, those who support the leader’s line will give him public backing. If you are one of the overwhelming majority of Conservatives who would like to restore honour and consistency to our position in Brussels, please tell our new Shadow Foreign Secretary, William Hague. His email is haguew@parliament.uk. You might also like to copy in the leader of the Conservative MEPs, Timothy Kirkhope(tkirkhope@europarl.eu.int), and David himself: camerond@parliament.uk. I am sure they will appreciate your support.

For those unfamiliar with the issue, there follows a short briefing note.

What is the European People’s Party?

The European People’s Party (EPP) is a union of Centrist and Christian Democratic parties founded in 1976 to promote European integration. Its Basic Charter commits it to “compete for the realisation of a United States of Europe”. Its current manifesto advocates:

· A European police force and army

· Single EU seats on the UN, the IMF and the WTO

· A European president and foreign minister

· The abolition of the national veto

· A pan-European income tax, to be levied by the European Parliament

Isn’t the EPP the main Centre-Right grouping in Strasbourg?

No. British journalists keep calling it “Centre-Right”, but the EPP itself angrily rejects the label. It insists that it is “the Party of the Centre”, steering a middle course between the command economy demanded by the Socialists and the free market supported by the Liberals. According to its Basic Charter, the chief goal of economic policy is “social solidarity, so that the fruits of economic success many be evenly distributed”. The EPP campaigns for a high minimum wage, strong trade unions, a larger EU budget, a barrage of “anti-discrimination” measures and an extension of the Social Chapter.

Why do some Tory MEPs want to sit with the EPP?

It is largely a generational divide. Many of the MEPs elected during the 1980s have a view of Europe not very far removed from that of the EPP. Their careers have been built within the EPP, and some of them now enjoy positions in consequence. They fear that, outside the EPP, they would have to start all over again. The Conservatives would still have the same per capita entitlement to committee posts, overseas delegations and so forth; but there is no guarantee that the same people would hold them, since the Tory Euro-philes would be the minority in a Euro-sceptic Group.

Are there logistical advantages to being part of a large bloc?

No; quite the contrary. The British Conservatives are entitled to staff and financing in proportion to their numbers. But all such resources go through the Groups. As things stand, the EPP “top-slices” the Tory financial quota and spends it on various pan-European projects—such as a campaign in favour of the Charter of Fundamental Rights. It even supported the “Yes” campaigns in the recent referendums. It is a similar story when it comes to employees. The British staff are paid by, and answerable to, the EPP. Many of them were hired during the 1980s on the basis of their commitment to federalism rather than any Conservative leanings and, far from answering to the Tory MEPs, they sometimes work directly against Conservative interests. Outside the EPP, the Tories would, for the first time, have significant resources with which to pursue their agenda.

Where would Conservative MEPs go?

They could either sit as Independents or form a new Group with like-minded parties. This is easily done: the rules of the Parliament stipulate that a Political Group must contain at least 19 MEPs from at least five member states. There are already 27 Conservative MEPs, and it would be a straightforward matter to attract respectable, Atlanticist parties from four or more other nationalities. In particular, many of the free market parties from Central and Eastern Europe have repeatedly sought to create a new Group under Tory leadership, and cannot understand why the Tories themselves are reluctant to leave the EPP. It is worth stressing that there is no question of sitting with extremist parties, or with parties that have a colourful past, such as Italy’s “post-fascist” Alleanza Nazionale (which is, incidentally, negotiating to join the EPP). It is also worth pointing out that several of the parties currently in the EPP are tainted by sleaze or extremism: Chirac’s UMP was involved in a number of funding scandals, while many of Silvio Berlusconi’s allies have been accused of corruption.

Why can’t the whole question be left to the MEPs?

It never has been before. Every past leader—from Margaret Thatcher onwards—has recognised that this is a question to be settled by the Westminster leader. The question goes wider than seating arrangements in Strasbourg: it encompasses the Tories’ relationships, as a whole, with other parties. Those who are currently taking this line strenuously argued the opposite when it suited them. When, in 2004, Michael Howard reversed IDS’s decision to leave the Group, pro-EPP Tory MEPs insisted that the question was up to him as the national leader.

Isn’t leaving the EPP at odds with David Cameron’s modernisation agenda?

On the contrary, nothing could be more modern than breaking with the 1950s federalist Euro-dogmas of the Christian Democrats. In forming a new Group, the Conservatives would be turning their backs on Old Europe and embracing New Europe. David Cameron has stressed the need for the party to change. It is striking that his fiercest opponents on this issue are palaeo-Tories of an earlier era: Geoffrey Howe, Michael Heseltine etc.

When should the break come?

Immediately. That was David Cameron’s pledge during the leadership contest. Suitable foreign allies are lined up and ready to go. If the issue is postponed, they may start to lose interest.

Does any of this much matter?

Yes. Leaving the EPP was the one firm commitment that David gave during the leadership campaign. He has since repeated it in public on at least four occasions. If he doesn’t deliver on the one thing that is in his gift as Opposition leader, voters will be reluctant to believe that he would deliver on his manifesto as Prime Minister. It is, as David himself has repeatedly said, a question of consistency and integrity. The Conservatives cannot say one thing in Britain and do another in Brussels.

Latest reports on Tory EPP Crisis

Times Online heads its report, linked here, 'Cameron's first big bloomer'.

The FT , linked here, titles its report 'Tory leader's snub threatens links with continental allies'

Open revolt among Tory MEPs

One week after the announcement of his startling leadership victory Vapid Cameron faces open revolt within his party. The latest report is in The Herald linked here.

Also well worth reading is this analysis of the problems the Tories have with Europe written by the editor of UPI, Martin Walker, titled Walker's World: The Curse of Europe

Drug use and the proposed candidate'A' list.

The full text of Vapid Cameron's Leeds speech setting out his proposals for a candidate 'A' list made in Leeds yesterday, may be read from this link.

Most major corporations when filling positions of responsibility ask the question as to whether the candidate uses or has used illegal substances. They also require that the question be answered!

What, one then wonders, will be the situation with Cameron's super-candidate list. Having refused to answer such a question himself it would be the height of hypocrisy to demand an answer from those aspiring to become his fast-tracked colleagues.

There is nowadays a dividing line within British universities between those who refuse any use of drugs and those who do not. The former group generally look upon the latter with either contempt or pity depending upon whether the abusers are viewed as perpetrators or their weak-willed victims. Graduates from the former group will fill the best positions available, expecting to answer the drugs use question as a fact of modern life throughout their future careers. Knowing the question has been asked gives some assurance that their future colleagues possess their own moral fibre or acuteness of vision to have been aware of the degradation and despair that abuse of drugs so frequently brings.

Simon Heffer in his column in the Daily Telegraph last weekend, linked here, made several good points regarding the difficulties of operating a list to favour the selection of women, of which this seemed the major point:

First, politics is such a disgusting profession these days that, with the exception of a few saintly figures on both sides of the House, most of the participants are so depressingly revolting that few civilised people would want to spend their working lives with them. Inevitably, women have more refined taste in this respect than most men, who are always more suited to the bear-garden. It might just be true that there are so few women in national politics because so few women actually want to go into national politics.

Given the obviously sleazy nature of the new conservative leader as confirmed by his own refusal to answer the drugs question, is it likely that non-drug using British graduates of the calibre sought by Vapid will really be likely to put themselves forward to be associated with the likes of Conservative MPs in particular who have promoted to their head such a vacillating and vacuous man.

What then will Cameron's 'A' list eventually become, already having excluded fifty per cent of candidates with no reference to character, experience or ability but merely whether their gonads are formed in a way acceptable to the Tory leader?

I have some thoughts on that, perhaps his Alist will be A for 'Abusers' of illegal substances or perhaps just plain A for 'Addict', whatever it finally becomes, serving under a man such as Vapid Cameron seems to be - looks increasingly likely to require 'Amorality'

Tory EU split deepens - while Letwin opts for cash over country!

Kenneth Clarke staes on TV that leaving the EPP would be disastrous, read the Telegraph report from here, while from the same paper Oliver Letwin proves that it's still the same old Tory party as he again puts cash before country, read that story from here.

I will withdraw the Conservative Party from the EPP by Christmas. (Frimley 23/11/05)

As quoted on the blog The Anglo Saxon Chronicle linked here.

Simon Jenkins on Vapid Cameron

The title of this week's column is "Cameron’s face fits — but he can’t look both ways at once" - the whole article is worth reading and may be reached from this link.

I, naturally enough, particularly enjoyed the section quoted below with my added highlight in red, having coined the nickname 'Vapid Cameron' on this blog even before the announcement of his victory and his public demonstrations of this 'vapidity' as his clearly main defining characteristic! See the postings beneath this. From Jenkin's column comes this:

Hence the significance of Cameron’s most cryptic remark in his coronation speech on Tuesday, “There is such a thing as society: it’s just that it is not the same thing as the state.” This was an enticing dichotomy. Was it more vapidity or did it presage a real constitutional departure?

Collins Dictionary defines 'vapid' as follows:

1.vapid adj Bereft of strength, sharpness, flavour, etc.; flat 2. boring or dull; lifeless: vapid talk [C17: from Latin vapidus: related to vappa tasteless or flat wine and perhaps to vapor warmth] -vapidity n. -vapidly adv. -'vapidness n

The voters will soon also twig in spite of today's polls!

Vapid Cameron failing at first fence

Like a novice showjumper on a knackered mount Cameron has faced a refusal at his first major hurdle and is now returning to make a second attempt to remove the Tories from the EPP as he had so clearly promised.

If the federalist Conservative MEPs really stick to their guns then Vapid's 'career' could be spectacularly through the air and into the dirt on the wrong side of the EU fence. The latest report on the growing rebellion is in the Telegraph linked from here, remember particularly this quote from Shadow Europe Minister which was in yesterday's link:

However, shadow Europe minister Graham Brady said: "David Cameron has made a completely firm, solid, bankable commitment that we will end the relationship with the EPP.

"That does not mean we are going to stop talking to them. It doesn't mean we are going to sit in a corner on our own.

"We believe we can have warm, helpful relationships with a lot of EPP member parties into the future because that is the essential way to proceed.

"But he has been very clear. We are going to end that relationship and seek to replace it with a new group closer to our thinking."

Mr Brady added: "They will not persuade David Cameron to change his mind on this."

So why now wait months - to quote Lady Macbeth - 'If it were done when 'tis done then 'twere well/ It were done quickly.'

So this from today's link, particularly the direct quote from Cameron himself in bold is likely to become long remembered, as why now the necessity for the anticipated months of delay? Many who have suffered the pains of a divorce know the impossibilty of negotiation with a partner before the act of departure!

While running for the Tory leadership, Mr Cameron declared that, if elected, he would sever the relationship between Conservative MEPs and the "European People's Party and European Democrats", the largest faction in the parliament.

He reaffirmed that commitment immediately after he was elected, and said he had asked William Hague, who has returned to the shadow cabinet as foreign affairs spokesman, to put it into effect.

Interviewed on Radio 4's Today programme yesterday, Mr Cameron said: "We will leave the EPP. We will form a new group and we will be consistent Conservative politicians.

"It will happen. It is a matter of months not years."

The party's links with the federalist grouping has been a constant thorn in the side of successive Tory leaders, but Mr Cameron has decided to make it an early test of his leadership.

Predictably Vapid prevaricates on EPP

Now the withdrawal from the EPP will take place 'within months' . WHY NOT NOW AS PROMISED? Read the Telegraph report from this link.

The Drugs Question

Dennis Skinner MP, the acknowledged master of the cutting parliamentary barrack, was yesterday banned from the House for the remainder of the day for accusing George Osborne the continuing Shadow Chancellor of having used cocaine. Read the Telegraph report from here.

The conclusion I draw from this privilege protected accusation and its wide reporting in the press is that the statement is most likely true and that Vapid Cameron's defence of his friend in the leadership campaign was at best misplaced. If it is not true and no evidence exists for Osborne's use of cocaine then sooner or later the issue will presumably be settled in the courts.

The drug question will continue to haunt Cameron's new conservative party which increasingly appears to be New Labour Mark II with the so far only obvious apparent objective of keeping its prototype in power, AND that just as Blair's reduced majority appeared to give some hope of a re-emergence of parliamentary democracy via Labour's own disgruntled backbenchers.

Vapid was admired in the media during the campaign for refusing to give a direct answer to the question of whether or not he had used illegal substances. The thinking public will however assume from this lack of a straight denial that he surely did.

While the majority of Conservative Party members and much of the nation's youth might consider this of minor importance, those responsible for legislating, administering or enforcing the law will surely have to give considerable thought as to whether they will in the future be able to serve under a government led by individuals who seem to have in the past knowingly indulged in illegal activities, albeit ones for which they have as yet tobe brought to account.

The knives are out for Vapid!

As foreseen on this blog, the media annihalation of the non-entity that is Cameron, has not been long in taking off! It was predicted here that DC would be mutilated and mangled by the media well before the next election!!!! At this rate he will hardly last until the next council elections.

Witness these quotes from a BBC report which overall is one of the most effective character assassinations I have yet to see, and may be read in full by clicking here.

Jeff Randall, writing in The Daily Telegraph where he is a senior executive, said he would not trust Mr Cameron "with my daughter's pocket money".

"To describe Cameron's approach to corporate PR as unhelpful and evasive overstates by a widish margin the clarity and plain-speaking that he brought to the job of being Michael Green's mouthpiece," wrote the ex-BBC business editor.

"In my experience, Cameron never gave a straight answer when dissemblance was a plausible alternative, which probably makes him perfectly suited for the role he now seeks: the next Tony Blair," Mr Randall wrote.

Sun business editor Ian King, recalling the same era, described Mr Cameron as a "poisonous, slippery individual".

'Vapid' - After PMQ maybe Prat would be more apt!

The SNP MP Salmon probably summed it up best as 'a debate between Fettes and Eton'

Simon Heffer also makes some good points in his column in the Daily Telegraph this morning, written of course well before the embarassment in the Commons at lunchtime.

The Conservatives - What a bunch of no-hopers to have democratically elected such a plonker, one who has managed to make his complete lack of leadership credentials startlingly obvious less than twenty four hours in the job. With Hague it took a year or so, IDS some months and while admittedly Howard's failings were obvious well before his annointment at least the media and general public gave him a few weeks breather. The verdict in the media this time (as was obvious on the Radio Four PM programme) can be only delayed by their own shame at their earlier misplaced enthusiasm (or duplicity?)

May I now suggest the English Democrats to bemused ex-Tories - perhaps one (or more) perceptive and thoughtful Conservative MP is wise enough to read the writing on the wall and make a bold change of loyalties.

God knows the country badly needs it!

The Guardian report on PMQ is linked here, the Heffer column from here.

Vapid Cameron and the EPP

Only one firm commitment, that I can discern, was made by Vapid during the leadership campaign - that being the withdrawal of Conservative Party MEPs from the EPP Group (federalist to its very core) in the European Parliament. Let's see what now transpires ......and when ......and if!!!!

A perfect chance to see if I have read things wrong!

'Vapid' Cameron looks set to win

The Conservative Party appears headed for oblivion today. We will know at four o'clock Brussels time.

If the Bookies, press and pundits are correct then the nothing that seems to be David Cameron (who this blog will refer to in future as 'Vapid') will ostensibly take over the leadership of Britain's still main opposition party.

With Simon Hughes seemingly positioning the LibDems to steal the English Democrats clothing that may not long be the case!

The British people can hardly be worse served if the leadership result is as predicted. The English people even less so!

'Tory Party faces meltdown ...' The Times

The report from the online edition of the paper may be read from this link.

Is Cameron's vacant look hiding nothin?

We wonder what other possibly really startling pieces of gossip will be slipped to the press if the 'man of straw' Cameron actually succeeds in being gerrymandered into place. This item was from the Rod Liddle column in today's Sunday Times:

I am happy that David Cameron believes in relaxed licensing laws, but that is no more than one should expect from a chap who until recently was a director of a nightclub that sold to its undoubtedly poncy customers such alcoholic concoctions as Slippery Nipple and Pink Pussy.

Big Beast backers of Cameron - in it for WHAT" ????????????

The Times this morning, linked here, reports as follows

THREE Tory heavyweights who will be offered senior roles in the Shadow Cabinet if David Cameron win the leadership contest grossed more than £1.7 million in outside earnings in the past 12 months, according to figures released yesterday.

Their combined earnings account for more than half the £2.7 million declared by MPs in the annual Register of Members’ Interests.

William Hague leads the list, with more than £1 million from book deals, a newspaper column, directorships and after-dinner speaking. He made six speeches, worth £65,000, in April during the general election campaign, when most Tory MPs and party workers were on the campaign trail.

Kenneth Clarke, the former Chancellor, who was defeated for the leadership for the third time, earned close to £500,000 from five directorships, including British American Tobacco. An MP’s salary is £59,095.

Francis Maude, the party chairman and leading moderniser in the Cameron camp, declared ten paid outside interests, including two directorships he took after the election, when he was recalled to the Shadow Cabinet. Mr Maude, like Mr Clarke, does not declare any of the fees, as is permissible in Parliament’s rules.

Cameron chooses cheap and easy Blair criticism rather than complicated and risky "course" charting

Given the incredible opportunity of an entire opinion column in today's Sunday Telegraph, what does the star dust touched, wonder boy use it for - tired and predictable attacks on Blair! Is this really all the Tories hope to have to offer for the years ahead?

Read the simplistic claptrap from this link.