Just back from David Cameron’s press conference unveiling plan B on Europe post the Czech’s ratifying Lisbon.
It all sounds to me like a downgrading and diluting of existing policy on Europe with a bit of chaff thrown up for the Euro-sceptics (namely, a Sovereignty Act which, we are told, establishes the supremacy of UK law over EU law – m’learned friends say it’s probably a bit more difficult than that).
David Cameron says it is “realistic, reasonable and do-able.” It’ll still scare some in Whitehall who’ve watched with mounting horror the Tories’ European agenda, but they’ll sleep better tonight than before.
As for the referendum, David Cameron is now saying there will be no referendum on anything European in the next Parliament. He will be too busy with other priorities and a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty would be pointless.
You get the impression he watched overnight to see the range and calibre of voices raised in opposition to his dropping of the Lisbon referendum and felt he could slap them down strongly today – he calls a post-ratification referendum on Lisbon a “phoney,” money-wasting idea.
Some in Brussels and other European capitals will be sleeping better tonight as well. David Cameron still wants to repatriate some powers but says he is not looking for a “bust up.”
Today Tory policy changed emphasis.
The party has been through a great journey in opposition, from stopping European integration the emphasis moved to making a grab back from Brussels of already devolved powers.
The key phrase in David Cameron’s speech today was “never again.”
The party emphasis has not returned to stopping moves towards closer union not unpicking what has passed. There is still some of the latter in the mix – a push to repatriate powers that will take a very long time to get anywhere.
But the emphasis has changed. This is David Cameron signalling to Whitehall, Brussels, his party and voters that he is not a fanatic on Euro issues.
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A clever nuanced speech sending the right signals to Washington, Brussels, Paris, Berlin and Whitehall were necessary to be taken seriously.
Whether he can now reign in the Rottweiler his dog whistle politics on Lisbon have called into being remains to be seen. Nick Griffin and Nigel Farage will be rubbing their hands in glee.
Interesting. I do admire DC for the skillful way that he tackles these thorny issues. Its evidence that he would make a very good Prime Minister, in my opinion. Best for a long time perhaps.
My problem with the Tories though, is all the rest of them. Interact with a few of the more unrestrained ones at grass-roots level on the Social Networking sites, as I have done, and it’ll completely turn-off anybody who’s thinking of voting Tory purely on the evidence of DC’s competent performances.
Social Twitworking possibly isn’t helping the main political parties quite as much as they might think…
Yes, Ray, my thinking too. Apparently, it wasn’t the blogosphere or comment threads that won it for Obama. It was YouTube! That and ‘citizen journalists’ capturing on You Tube what politicos didn’t want broadcast.
The real issue is not Camerons speech,for he announced the only possible action the Tories can take ,short of offering to, or a referendum on, pulling out of Europe completely.You are quite right Paul ,in this country the only beneficeries of ratification are UKIP and the BNP.Cameron is not to blame for that.The blame lays squarely with TB and GB who did not trust the British people to vote as they wished and reneged on the proposed referendum.
I believe that this treaty will be the beginning of the end for the European experiment.Certainly as far as Britain is concerned
Cameron has proved he is no better than Brown – they both use weasel-words to wriggle out of commitments they had given to the electorate. The price will be at the ballot-box, with gains for UKIP and BNP in otherwise Tory seats, then probably a hung Parliament – is that what Deceitful Dave wants ?
Is David Cameron turning into Tony Blair already?
Weasel words fail the Integrity Test.
Davids’ response to the problem of a referendum was politically honest and the right thing to say.
What is the point of spending large amounts of money to form an opinion on something that has already happened.?
The ratification by the 27 members took dismissed street level opinion, although I am personaly sure that signing up was the sensible thing to do.
Now we can begin to look at the treaty in full , test the waters, see what happens, look at what will benefit GB ,then use if necessary opt out clauses to change progression in any areas which do not suit our National interests.
dear dear dear,,,, these little boxes. Why can’t I write in them?
Sp ; personally.
grammar. 27 members , dismissed street level opinion.
Does anyone else suffer from this blog problem of misspellings and grammatical calamities?
I definitely do. I’m well acquainted with spotting the typo a milisecond after pressing submit.
I’ve often wondered if people using other languages get the same problem… Hige sceale be hearte…
Sovereignty Act? If Cameron is not aware of the fact that no parliament can bind a future parliament he is not fit to be an MP. It’s “O” level stuff.
As for referendums all they do is show how popular the government is: just as the dutch did with their referendum on the “constitution”
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