Well, it was quite a European weekend, wasn’t it, with the
political landscape transformed in the UK, France, Denmark, Hungary and Greece
and much upset elsewhere. The electorate bothering to vote sent Brussels a loud
raspberry and gave their respective fat-cat political “elites” a kicking they
long deserved and a clear instruction to reform Europe or else withdraw from it
post haste.
The UK was a great show; Nigel Farage and his UKIP ran rings
around the established big 3 parties. UKIP is a shambolic mixture but at least
its members are normal human beings not some laboratory- created or programmed
clones from Head Office. For the Lib Dems, Nick Clegg epitomised the metrosexual
arrogance of his type, was slaughtered in debate by personable Farage and will
now spiral away into political oblivion. Ed Miliband has always seemed a trifle
weird, but his feeble campaign underlined his out-of-touch weirdness to a T and
his attempt to eat a bacon butty with nonchalance was a pathetic comic moment
to savour.
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| Ed Miliband's Bacon Buttty Waterloo |
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| Nigel Farage: Hero of the Hour |
David Cameron was all sincerity and nebulous promises of “getting
tough” with Europe. He was not believed: his leisurely timetable for
renegotiation and 2017 referendum deepens the suspicion that he is as “tough”
as a powder-puff. “Trust me, I get it” is no substitute for action; he needs to
get off his Old Etonian backside and start re-negotiating the UK’s relationship
with Europe now. He is required to produce some passion, some vision and some
inspiration. He is after all the leader of a great nation which has a
distinguished history of independence to support him.
Cameron should immediately select a Minister for Europe,
just as MacMillan did with Heath. This time round he should appoint a seasoned
Eurosceptic with fire in the belly – Michael Gove or Theresa May spring to mind
– who can master a brief, take on formidable vested interests (as respectively
the teachers and the police were taken on) and work over the fanatical
federalists of the EU. The UK wants a sustainable associate status in Europe
centred on trade and services and will not submit to supra-national institutions
nor intrusive rules dreamt up by Brussels bureaucrats. If there is no deal, we
walk away. If Cameron goes down this route, judiciously making an electoral
pact with UKIP and soon dropping the Lib Dems, he will prick the bubble of
Scottish defection, win the 2015 election outright and lead the dynamic UK into
luscious new pastures.
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| Marine Le Pen, the new Joan of Arc |
The shock of the weekend was the rampaging success of the
Front National in France, wiping the floor with the Gaullists and with Hollande’s
Socialists, so recently the toast of Paris. Marine Le Pen’s father was an
extremist but Marine has sanitised her party and, once treated like lepers, the
FN polled higher than any others. It is now at the centre of French politics,
amazingly advocating withdrawal from the EU and insisting on priority being
given to French people within France – not unreasonably to any but a Brussels
mind-set. Belatedly Sarkozy is now saying the right things about EU reform and
maybe his discredited but experienced voice will be heard too.
The Right caused havoc in Denmark and Hungary while the odd
man out was Greece where the insurgency came from the hard Left SYRIZA led by
youthful and honest Alexis Tsipras. His party topped the European poll but not
quite decisively enough to eliminate the tottering PASOK of Venizelos nor
cripple the blithely pro-austerity New Democracy of Prime Minister Samaras. The
coalition of these two, Venizelos and Samaras, has created a government
containing ripe characters you might more expect to see during visiting hours
at Armley Jail. Tsipras will have his work cut out to depose this regime which
will hold on to power like grim death.
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| Alexis Tsipras |
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| Samaras and Venizelos |
The precise direction of European politics in the coming
months is hard to predict. But last weekend was a moment to treasure. The Establishment
in leading countries, smug beyond words, exploiters of their own citizens, weak
towards overt enemies and subsidised by ruthless financiers, received a
drubbing they will never forget. Do not let this opportunity pass by – strike
while the iron is hot and free us from our EU shackles!
SMD
27.05.14
Text Copyright © Sidney Donald 2014
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