The next Conservative cabinet?
As David Cameron reads the opinion polls that give him a consistent 16 to 17 point lead over Brown’s Labour, he may feel satisfied that the Conservatives are on the verge of victory and ending more than a decade in the wilderness. However, there is more to this picture. Cameron had to deal with one issue that could divide the party and ruin their Westminster chances, the issue of Europe.
It is widely believed that he did a deal with his party’s euroskeptics be offering a withdrawal from the EPP-ED and letting them be more rejectionist, if they played nicely and didn’t rock the boat over his more liberal one nation Toryism in the UK. This plan is badly damaged and may soon collapse, leaving the Conservatives in disarray. Are they really daft enough to walk down the path of electoral failure, yet again? The recent record shows that the answer could be yes.
The farce over the Conservatives new group in the Parliament left them losing the group leadership, having only one committee chairmanship and enduring the wrath of the EPP, who are co-operating with the gleeful Socialist Group, to stitch up the Tories at every opportunity.
Internally there are rumours that Macmillan-Scott may defect to the EPP, possibly with two or three others and a similar number may move to join Nigel Farage’s group, although this is seen as less likely because of the presence of Italy’s Northern League, who are seen as too extremist. Nevertheless, if the group stays intact, expect Labour to frequently raise the subject of the Latvian Fatherland and Freedom Party who like to celebrate the Latvian members of the Waffen SS, something that many Brits will find repulsive.
If this prospect wasn’t bad enough, enter Daniel Hannan, who spent most of the last parliament as an Independent after being chucked out of the group for being offensive. How keen Hannan is to be back in the Tory fold is hard to judge. When the Parliamentarians returned to form their groups there was an advertised meeting to found a “European Right Group”. Sadly only two MEP’s turned up for it, Hannan and Den Dover, who is currently being asked to return half a million pounds of wrongly claimed expenses. Whilst that group proved to be a chimera, maybe Mr Hannan isn’t as dedicated to the European Conservative and Reform Group as he could be.
Never one to shy away from publicity, Mr Hannan has recently toured the US criticising the British health service and supporting the US Conservative campaign against President Obama´s health care reform. This gave David Cameron two problems; firstly his party is seen as weak on the UK National Health Service, where may voters suspect that the Tories would dismantle it, secondly, one of his MEP´s is siding against the President he will have to be best buddies with in under a year. Hannan´s comments were seized upon by Labour and Cameron issued a rebuke, referring to the views expressed as ‘eccentric’, which can be translated as ‘he is as mad as a hatter’, but failed to offer any meaningful censure. This may be because he doesn’t want to make a martyr out of him, or it may be because their wives are best friends.
Making things more difficult is the remarks by the more admired Charles Tannock, who suggested patients should be charged to visit their doctor, “I know they are controversial but I don’t think people who are in a job would be against say spending £10 to see their GP or being fined £10 if they don’t show up to an out-patients, so that’s the sort of thing I would like to see.” He then went on to suggest a pay freeze for doctors, some of whom work the longest hours of any profession. All of this plays into Labour’s hands, and will form a major part of an election campaign.
All this suggests that the truce and deal between the pro and anti Europe groups in the party is almost dead and if it is killed off the open warfare that ended the careers of Thatcher and Major will break out again. Is Cameron in a strong enough position to put a stop to all this? We will soon know as if this self-destructive behaviour isn’t stopped soon, then it will erode the leader’s authority, irritate their allies and could even achieve the seemingly impossible; give Gordon Brown a second term in office.
Watch this space and keep an eye on the liked and admired rising star of the UK Conservatives, Syed Kamall MEP.
