"Battle lines" are drawn over Tory EU stance
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Daniel Hannan, spokesperson for Legal Affairs, and Roger Helmer, responsible for Employment, both members of the so-called 'H-Bloc', the right-wing Eurosceptic faction of the Conservatives, resigned their positions following party leader David Cameron's very public speech on Wednesday over his the future Tory position on Europe following the final ratification of the Lisbon Treaty.
Cameron said he would not be pressured into "concocting" a referendum on EU membership, something the Tory right, as well as Eurosceptic party UKIP have pledged to do.
Both Hannan and Helmer have been closely identified with UKIP, and mow Hannan has suggested he will now use his free time to push his leader on the issue of EU withdrawal, something that Cameron now seems keen to avoid, and while this threat may seen on the surface insubstantial, Cameron (the man many see as the Prime Minister in waiting) cannot take for granted.
Rumours are that both men decided to jump before they were pushed, but one thing is certain; that Cameron now realises that if he is to get anywhere in Europe, whether in or out of the influential EPP group, he cannot do so with out friendly interlocutors - a communications channel impossible if the Eurosceptic wing of the Tories continues to be dominated by the ardent Eurosceeptics.
Sources within the party admit that Cameron is in something of a bind - he has previously pledged a tough line on Europe - but now appears to accept that alienation from his "European partners" (to use a phrase from Wednesday's speech) would be in the worst possible interests for Britain. He is also, no doubt, aware of the pressure coming from Europe over hisassociations with ECR Group chairman Michal Kaminski.
Rival opinion in the Conservatives are keen to treat the Hannan threat as more serious than at first might be interpreted, and and accept that the "arm lock" that the "UKIP tenancy" have put the party in is something that Cameron needs to work on in as seriously as his opponents are gathering against him.
"Cameron has drawn a line in the sand. The battle lines are drawn", said one Tory source. “Cameron needs to work out how to deal with this problem. He needs friends in London and Brussels. These resignations have started a kind of Battle for Britain...but from Brussels".
