Call me cynical, but I'm not quite ready to believe David 'fruitcakes, loonies and closet racists' Cameron is a born-again Eurosceptic - at least not without an explanation of just where along this particular road to Damascus his conversion occurred.
As one of Cranmer's commentors point out, Call Me Dave's promise of referenda for further treaties is worthless. The European Non-Constitution is self-amending - it's a sort of Reader's Digest bookclub of treaties: once you're signed up, new clauses are added every month without you needing to take any action. For a guy who's position boils down to 'Trust me, you bunch of nutters', this sleight of hand hardly bodes well.
More to the point, I'm unsure about the idea that the Tories taking a Eurosceptic line makes UKIP irrelevant. On the contrary, for over three decades the Tory face cards have been drinking le kool aid euro but it's only now they need the 'fruitcakes' voting for them that they've suddenly remembered how sceptical they are. If eurosceptism amongst the Tory grass roots counted for anything, Call Me Dave wouldn't have to suddenly back-flip now. Nope, as long as the Tory grass roots were content to keep mumbling into their drinks, but still stay onboard, they had absolutely no influence on the party. It's only now that UKIP offers a genuinely Eurosceptic alternative that the Tories have suddenly discovered that they're Eurosceptic too. In other words, the folks who left the Tories to join UKIP has managed to have more influence on Tory policy than any number of drones, desperately sucking up whatever their top brass puts out.
As one of Cranmer's commentors point out, Call Me Dave's promise of referenda for further treaties is worthless. The European Non-Constitution is self-amending - it's a sort of Reader's Digest bookclub of treaties: once you're signed up, new clauses are added every month without you needing to take any action. For a guy who's position boils down to 'Trust me, you bunch of nutters', this sleight of hand hardly bodes well.
More to the point, I'm unsure about the idea that the Tories taking a Eurosceptic line makes UKIP irrelevant. On the contrary, for over three decades the Tory face cards have been drinking le kool aid euro but it's only now they need the 'fruitcakes' voting for them that they've suddenly remembered how sceptical they are. If eurosceptism amongst the Tory grass roots counted for anything, Call Me Dave wouldn't have to suddenly back-flip now. Nope, as long as the Tory grass roots were content to keep mumbling into their drinks, but still stay onboard, they had absolutely no influence on the party. It's only now that UKIP offers a genuinely Eurosceptic alternative that the Tories have suddenly discovered that they're Eurosceptic too. In other words, the folks who left the Tories to join UKIP has managed to have more influence on Tory policy than any number of drones, desperately sucking up whatever their top brass puts out.
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