Ultimately his conclusions are, albeit expressed slightly more opaquely than his colleagues usually do, is that it's Ukip's fault the Tories are in trouble and thus we should all be ashamed of ourselves. This is tribal loyalty at its most deluded as Hannan claims the Tories are Eurosceptic. The Talking Clock highlights this to be the fallacy that it always has been. Indeed, Labour has a better history of Eurosceptisim than the Tories.
Eureferendum calls the piece the return of the Judas goat. I really do like the term Judas goat. Not only does it sum up Hannan et al wonderfully concisely and accurately but it sounds deliciously rude - particularly if preceded with robust terms meaning 'move along quickly please'.
The Devil's Kitchen does a great fisking of Hannan's piece, well worth a read in full here. You really do have to wonder (if not admire) the levels of cerebral twister required to justify the following as a defence of your party and criticism of others not to vote for it:
It’s true that most Conservative voters would withdraw from the EU tomorrow. So would most party members. And so, I suspect, would most Tory MPs in a secret ballot. That, though, is not party policy.But soon it's local elections and Hannan has to do his bit for the party like a good little boy. And given the dramatic increase in anti-UKIP rhetoric for the Tories, it does suggest that they are getting confirmation via internal polls, of their electoral problems.
