Politics

Tories and the EU: it’s complicated

October 24, 2011
The increasingly posturing Sarkozy attacked David Cameron yesterday
The increasingly posturing Sarkozy attacked David Cameron yesterday

There was a moment in the 2005 Conservative party leadership contest when it looked like Liam Fox might pose a serious threat to David Cameron's bid. In order to see off his rival, and thrill the Eurosceptic right, Cameron made an unprecedented pledge: he would withdraw his party from the main centre-right (and pro-European) grouping in Brussels, the European People’s Party (EPP).

Four years later, Cameron fulfilled the pledge, controversially siding with fringe parties on the right in Europe. It is ironic, then, that one of the most Eurosceptic Conservative leaders on record since Margaret Thatcher should today find himself facing a significant rebellion among Tory backbenchers, who regard him, and his foreign secretary William Hague, as traitors to the Eurosceptic cause. That irony was demonstrated this weekend by Sarkozy's calculated attack on Cameron for "telling us what to do" over the eurozone crisis despite "hating" the euro.

But that is the nature of the complicated and destructive relationship that has existed between the Conservatives and the European Union since the 1975 referendum. In the latter years of New Labour, many thought Europe had “gone away” as a story. Well today it is back with a vengeance, thanks to a petition of over 100,000 signatures, submitted to Downing Street by Conservative MP David Nuttall.

Aside from some unspecific claims about hoping to repatriate powers, Cameron’s whips are merely arguing that “this is the wrong time” for a referendum (even though rebels are pointing out such a poll wouldn’t take place for several years after a parliamentary process). The reality is that even most Eurosceptic Tories know—when they are in government at least—that withdrawal from or even renegotiation with the EU is, as Vince Cable has said in this month's Prospect, not “realistic.”

They should, perhaps, have the courage to say so. It is not clear at the time of writing whether there will be more like 50 or 80 rebels tonight. There would have been more if Cameron had not ordered a three-line whip, to the annoyance of some backbenchers. But, in the medium-term, Cameron's imposition of the whip may backfire on him, leaving him vulnerable to accusations of leading an out-of-touch, liberal elite government cut off from the desire of "the people" to distance their country from Europe. What is clear is that Europe remains the one major issue that could tear this coalition apart.

Update: this blog has been edited to correct the claim, widely-reported this morning, that the debate was brought about by an e-petition.