Showing posts with label Geoffrey Howe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Geoffrey Howe. Show all posts

Sunday, May 19, 2013


This Is a New, Farcical Low and David Cameron Is Losing Control

THE OBSERVER: The Tory backbenchers' desire to quit Europe would leave Britain dangerously isolated

Unfortunately, last week's events in the House of Commons have brought the debate on Europe within the Conservative party to a new, almost farcical, low. Having previously opposed the introduction of legislation in this parliament to hold a referendum in the next one, the prime minister suddenly allowed a free vote among backbenchers, with the government abstaining, on the extraordinary basis that the party had no policy on the issue.

Then, once more than 100 backbenchers had voted for such a referendum, he insisted that all Tory MPs, whatever their view, should from now on support the proposal, on a three-line whip, whereas only the day before they could take any position they chose. This saga looks more like the politics of the French Fourth Republic than the serious practice of government and it is especially disappointing and damaging on such an important issue – the place of Britain in Europe and the world.

Sadly, by making it clear in January that he opposes the current terms of UK membership of the EU, the prime minister has opened a Pandora's box politically and seems to be losing control of his party in the process. The ratchet-effect of Euroscepticism has now gone so far that the Conservative leadership is in effect running scared of its own backbenchers, let alone Ukip, having allowed deep anti-Europeanism to infect the very soul of the party. The risk now is that, if it loses the next general election – a far from negligible possibility – the Conservative party will move to a position of simply opposing Britain's continued membership, with or without a referendum.

Archimedes said: "Give me a place on which to stand and lever long enough, and I will move the world." British foreign policy should be about maximising and exploiting the levers we possess – whether through Europe, the transatlantic relationship or the Commonwealth – not breaking them or throwing them away.

In this context, I have yet to meet any significant western political figure from beyond our shores who can understand why Britain would even contemplate leaving the European Union, which is now a key point of leverage for this country in the modern world.

In Washington, Tokyo, Beijing, New Delhi or Moscow, let alone in all other EU national capitals, it seems obvious that the UK needs the union as the platform and vehicle by which to influence events and policy in many spheres. Nowadays, with the possible exception of Germany, a country such as Britain, boasting about 1% of the world's population and 3% of the world's GDP, is unlikely to be able to hold anything like the position of power to which we continue to aspire, unless this is firmly anchored in a strong alliances and, ideally, a credible regional framework. With the decline of Nato, the only such framework available, unless we seek to join the United States, is basically the European Union. » | Geoffrey Howe | Saturday, May 18, 2013

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Tory Party Out of Control over Europe, Says Lord Howe

THE OBSERVER: Former chancellor launches scathing attack on David Cameron and says Euroscepticism is 'infecting party soul'

Lord Howe, the former Conservative chancellor who triggered the downfall of Margaret Thatcher, has launched a scathing attack on the prime minister, accusing him of running scared of his backbenchers and endangering Britain's future in Europe.

The Tory grandee says David Cameron has opened a Pandora's box by opposing the current terms of the UK's membership of the European Union and now appears to be losing control of his party. The prime minister's actions, Howe writes in the Observer, have turned an internal Tory problem into a national one.

In a highly significant intervention over Britain's future, Howe laments the "new, almost farcical" level of debate over Europe in the Tory party, and says that Labour and the Liberal Democrats may need to bear the burden of retrieving the situation. Howe, Thatcher's longest-serving cabinet minister, whose resignation speech in 1990 is widely considered to have precipitated the then prime minister's downfall, writes: "Sadly, by making it clear in January that he opposes the current terms of UK membership of the EU, the prime minister has opened a Pandora's box politically and seems to be losing control of his party in the process.

"The ratchet-effect of Euroscepticism has now gone so far that the Conservative leadership is in effect running scared of its own backbenchers, let alone Ukip, having allowed deep anti-Europeanism to infect the very soul of the party."

Howe, who was also a former foreign secretary and deputy prime minister under the late Baroness Thatcher, adds that the events of recent days, in which the prime minister has been forced to offer more and more to satisfy his Eurosceptic MPs, were "more like the politics of the French Fourth Republic than the serious practice of government". » | Daniel Boffey, policy editor | Saturday, May 18, 2013