Cameron and his party conspire to create a European shambles … The Prime Minister's concessions over the EU referendum have eroded his authority … The tragedy for David Cameron is that before this latest farcical episode of The Muppet Show, he had arrived at a perfectly sensible policy … – UK Telegraph
Dominant Social Theme: We are the Tories and have always stood against the EU. A referendum on the subject? No problem!
Free-Market Analysis: David Cameron, Prime Minister of England, is panicked about the emergence of the libertarian UKIP in Britain and the votes it is removing from the Tories.
The conservative Tory party is indeed a "shambles" and in large part due to its position on the EU. In fact, as we have pointed out, the Tory leadership jettisoned Margaret Thatcher when she attempted to put some distance between the EU and Britain.
The EU is not a German project but a project of the Anglosphere – Britain and the US. Actually, to be more precise, a small cadre of globalists that have no allegiance to any one country is behind the formation and the pursuit of the EU.
But the majority of people in England, especially, seem to want to remove Britain from the EU and UKIP is gaining strength by enunciating these viewpoints. Its leader, Nigel Farage, calls for a referendum and blasts the EU every chance he gets.
We've interviewed Farage, here: Nigel Farage on the European Union, UKIP and Britain's Great Awakening.
Here's more from the Telegraph article excerpted above.
The events of the past 48 hours have marked a new low in Mr Cameron's leadership. In particular, there has been a serious erosion of the Prime Minister's authority. Mr Cameron did not want a Bill in this parliament on an EU referendum. Then, in a sudden effort to encourage Tory MPs to soft-pedal on an amendment critical of the Queen's Speech's failure to mention a referendum, he gave way while on a trip to visit President Obama.
Life is too short to explain fully what the backbenchers' amendment is about. Suffice to say, the PM hoped that by publishing a Bill, he would calm the situation and assuage the rebels. No such luck. Within hours of No 10 announcing that it, or rather the Tory party, was publishing a draft Bill that would commit the next parliament (a constitutional impossibility) to an in-out referendum, some were pushing for more. The Bill should get Government time, came the demand. Not possible: there's a Coalition. Have a referendum before the election, they cried. How, with no majority in the Commons? The opinion polls also suggest the public is divided: any such campaign could easily result in a vote to stay in.
While some Tory MPs have gone on record to say they are pleased that the referendum Bill has been published, those who are enthusiastic about staying in the EU (there are about 30) are appalled. Several
Cameron and his party conspire to create a European shambles – Telegraph 5/15/13 8:53 AM
others I spoke to just seemed to be trying to keep up, hour by hour, with the Prime Minister's evolving position.
Some Conservatives complain that this is all unfair. This trouble is all got up by the Europhile media – can't you see that there is total harmony and no Tory split? They act as though saying this repeatedly, with a smile, will somehow make it true. That is Panglossian piffle. I am a Eurosceptic and I know a Tory shambles when I see one. This is definitely a Tory shambles.
The irony, and the tragedy for Mr Cameron, is that before this latest farcical episode of The Muppet Show, he had arrived at a perfectly sensible policy. In January, he declared that if elected in 2015, he would commit himself to renegotiating the terms of British membership of the EU. He would then put the results to the country in an in/out referendum.
This was an entirely logical and coherent position, around which all members of the Tory tribe should have been able to unite. More importantly, the electorate might even like it. Those who believe in getting out could look forward to a vote. Those who want to try renegotiation could be reassured that it would be attempted. Those who want to stay in could go into the election knowing that the issue had been parked, but that they would get the chance to campaign for Brussels. Crucially, this policy meant that voting Tory at the next election would be the only serious way to get a referendum. It also made practical sense, with the euro crisis unresolved.
It had, admittedly, taken Mr Cameron a long time to get to such a sensible position. Initially, he was merely determined that the party should, as he put it, stop "banging on about Europe", and that his leadership would not be dominated by the rows that have disfigured the Tory party since the fall of Margaret Thatcher.
Mr Cameron set out to change the broken record, hoping that voters who think the Tories weird for their fixation on Europe would take another look. Being David Cameron, he hoped to make Europe go away mainly by relying on his charming personality, and did not think too much about the details.
At first, this got him into terrible difficulty, chiefly over his abandonment of a cast-iron guarantee to hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. (He pointed out, in vain, that the treaty had long since been ratified.) Eventually, with the aid of William Hague, he set out to craft the compromise of renegotiation and then a referendum.
The beauty of this policy was its simplicity. It acknowledged clearly that the EU is important and that the Tories mean to do something about it if they get a majority. But it created space in which they could also talk about other matters, such as welfare, the economy and Labour's suitability, or otherwise, for office. It also gave Eurosceptics time to construct a case for withdrawal that goes beyond standard-issue rhetoric and baseless assertions.
For a while, it seemed that the overwhelming bulk of the parliamentary party understood this. Yet just four months later, the panic induced by the rise of Ukip seems to have so frightened some MPs that they have moved back to negotiating live on air, on a daily basis, with the Prime Minister. Bizarrely, he seems prepared to go along with this, and to offer concessions rather than holding the line.
The sorry result is that his policy is no longer simple. It is confusing. It has a Bill attached, to be introduced immediately (or perhaps not), and there is a row about how ministers would vote if there was a referendum today, which there won't be. The matter is being reduced to a traditional Tory squabble, which will baffle many watching voters.
Once again, under pressure, the Conservatives are getting themselves lost in the politics of the student union; of Eurosceptic angels dancing on the heads of pins; of men (almost always men) having arcane arguments about motions, timetables and Private Members' Bills. They have lost the plot.
Yes, it would seem that Cameron and his brain trust have "lost the plot." They are reacting badly to recent UKIP victories and seem to believe if they now offer the British public what they should have offered years ago – a referendum on the EU – that they will somehow regain the credibility and good will of voters.
The unstated reason for the Tory panic is deeper, however. Cameron offered a referendum in order to get elected and then promptly reneged. Now the Tories are wrapping themselves into contortions trying to figure out how to regain British trust.
It probably won't happen. The British elites – who always wanted the EU – have led Britain into the alliance via outright lies. Now with what appears to be a full scale voting rebellion on their hands, they are in retreat.
Ironically, Cameron may end up with the worst of both worlds: A referendum that will take Britain out of the EU and a public that in no way believes he is behind such a proposal.
In fact, it could be said that Cameron is playing for time. At some point he or others may simply announce that the window for a referendum to remove Britain from the EU has closed due to treaties and the press of current events.
This sounds cynical but the entire affair has been marked by one cynical ploy after another. The results may be lingering and serious, indeed.
The top people in Britain may feel they have gotten away with something, but they will have virtually destroyed the credibility of the parliamentary system in the process.
As the article states, Cameron has painted himself into a proverbial corner. But the evolution of these Tory difficulties goes back a long way and can be traced to a history of devious designs and trickery.
The globalists that want to build a European empire should have taken the British electorate into it honestly and openly. Now their trickery is catching up to them. There will likely be a good deal more damage to the British political system before all of this is through.
