Wednesday 28 November 2012

The Judas Goat Strikes Back

Dan Hannan, he who without any sense of shame performed a U-turn so large it was visible from space (changing his views from an EU exit to a renegotiation position within a matter of days, after looking at his payslip) has yet again tried to argue that Eurosceptics should side with the Tories. Despite the massive historical evidence to the contrary - apparently we should still trust the most europhile party going:

The tragedy is that it will come too late. By the time UKIP and the Conservatives accept Britain’s electoral logic, the damage will have been done.
It is now likelier than not that the Conservatives will offer an In/Out referendum. The danger is that my party will do so ambiguously, tardily or unconvincingly. Too unconvincingly, at any rate, for those in UKIP who are predisposed to disbelieve everything Tories say.
The two parties will end up fighting each other at the 2015 general election. UKIP won’t win a single seat, but will cause the Conservatives to lose dozens.
The arguments against the Tories, particularly Mr Hannan, has been made many times before, to the point of watching paint dry, but sadly it needs to keep being reiterated. Here's the Tory record:
  1. Entered the EEC on a lie (read the 1971 internal document FCO 30/1048)
  2. Campaigned in the 1975 referendum for a yes vote, including Thatcher
  3. Passed the Single European Act
  4. Shadowed the Deutschmark in preparation to enter the ERM.
  5. Entered the ERM which directly lead to the early '90s recession
  6. Passed the Maastricht Treaty
  7. Have become, in Roger Helmer's words the most pro-EU government ever, since elected in 2010.
Actions speak louder than words and no amount of rhetoric can cover the fact that the Tories cannot wait to constantly integrate further. Here's what I wrote in November 2011:
To use a football analogy; I have supported my team for over 25 years, in that time I've criticised players, managers and the board but every year I still renew my season ticket. That makes me a supporter not a sceptic. And the same is true of Tories, despite the criticism of some aspects of the EU, when that EU season ticket renewal comes up they gleefully renew. They are supporters not sceptics.
Dan Hannan is our enemy. Bollocks to him - the Judas goat - and to his attempted deception.

18 comments:

  1. Agree with this one 100%

    Also as Myrtle (love that name) rightly points out, its pointless the tory's offering and In/Out referendum, its a debased currency. So much to the point I think this morning you got 40 cast iron tory promises to the confederate dollar

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  2. As an ex-Tory party member, I wholeheartedly agree. Cameron is basically showboating and the media are letting him get away with it.

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  3. Some of the comments in the Telegraph mention the discredited "UKIP will split the Tory vote" Besides the arrogance of their assuming it's "their" vote, contrariwise it's the Tories who will dilute the UKIP vote.

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  4. I wouldn't give a flying fu*k about any deals between UKIP and the useless tories. I would vote for the raving loonies or Baldric before casting a blue vote.
    The arrogant pricks actually think UKIP's votes belong to them?

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  5. Its a problem thoughout political parties. They think someone is "splitting the vote" of course its not true, nothing says that if this candidate did not stand i would vote for this one instead.

    UKIP is appealing to many none conservative voters, People vote because thats how they want to vote, they dont tend to vote "instead of". they may do so as a tactical one to keep another party out, but, its not usually how a person does make the desision in the end.

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  6. @Mike Spilligan You're dead right. Sadly that arrogance is common place amongst Tories. I've stood as a UKIP candidate and the most common comment I received was 'you're stealing our votes'. Astonishing really

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  7. UKIP mist resist any deal with the Tories. Simple as that. Integrity is worth more than an empty promise

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  8. Well said, Boiling Frog.
    Daniel Hannan is a pointless ditherer. He's in the wrong party and scared to leave. If they did allow a referendum, we could be sure that the EU would flood us with propaganda and it would contain a lot of false hopes about re-negotiation etc.

    BTW am I the only person who finds your captchas are getting harder and harder?

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  9. @Julia Gasper Thanks, re comments, it's been said a few times...for some reason Google changed it making it more difficult to read. I have tried turning it off but then I get hit with lots of spam. I might try again playing around again with the settings and see what I can do.

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  10. @Anon, I agree...if they did a deal I think their membership would collapse

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  11. Farage has said he will not deal with Cameron. I think he will deal with some one else if he can get a seat in Westminster and a ministry.

    I notice Myrtle changing from out to 'negotiate'. So has Boris.

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  12. @Robert You rightly raise a concern with Farage I would agree with. Any deal would cause the membership to collapse...but the temptation of ministerial office, and a place in the Lords and a deal with anyone other than Cameron (which has been mooted)- is that enough for Farage to stand his ground. I'm not so sure

    Agree about Myrtle and Boris

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  13. The problem the Tories have, particularly with regard to the EU, is being all things to all men.

    You can work that one for a time, but if you stick to it, you end up being nothing to anyone.

    You can't fool all the people all of the time.

    Now what is their policy on the EU exactly? "In Europe but not run by Europe" isn't a policy, it's a blandishment.

    I'm genuinely surprised that Hannan and Johnson have gone along with these abrupt about turns. I'd have thought both of them would have the gumption to see it would be counter-productive and do them no good.

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  14. @Cosmic, The Tories have always had a schizophrenic attitude to the EU...there's a great quote on my sidebar from Labour MP Hugh Gaitskell, October 1962, which still rings true now as it did then.

    The problem for the Tories is that the closer we integrate the harder it is for them to hide it.

    As for Hannan and Johnson, they know which side their bread is buttered...they only way they'll jump ship is when the power shifts to the people so much it makes it worth their while to jump ship.

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  15. TBF,

    The ruling central core of the Conservative Party has been highly enthusiastic about "Europe", from the 50s.

    They've conducted a deception to keep supporters sweet. People want to believe that they might be, somehow, anti-EU in some way; not positively, uncritically enthusiastic about it all.

    If they came clean, they would lose a big chunk of their support.

    Their "now you see it, now you don't, the hand is swifter than the eye" approach has worked well and has sucked in and dissipated anti-EU sentiment and helped prevent it finding an dangerous outlet such as UKIP. However, it's running out of road fast. Partly, they are running out of people want to believe in them.

    I get the impression that Hannan and Johnson are responding to a call. Whoever made the call must be pretty desperate to think that such a ham-fisted and transparent gambit would be productive.

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  16. @Cosmic, quite, I agree with your sentiments fully

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