The Real Reason

Despite public protestations from most EU leaders and Commissioners to the contrary, it is becoming increasingly clear that the only public vote on the Lisbon Treaty will not be respected.

Vice President of the EU Commission, Margot Wallström has given the game away and admitted the real reason why the elite feel it is perfectly acceptable to ignore the Irish Referendum result on the Lisbon Treaty.

Speaking in a debate on the Lisbon Treaty in which anti-treaty MEPs held a protest, Ms Wallström told the EU Parliament:

Don’t forget the European leaders have invested a lot of political capital into this whole procedure.

So, there you have it. The European political elite can safely ignore Irish public opinion because they have put a lot of effort into securing their Constitution. That must make it alright then.

Democratic Legitimacy

With violence and the intimidation of voters increasing by the day in Zimbabwe, leader of the MDC, Morgan Tsvangirai has announced that he will not contest the Presidential run-off because a fair vote is now virtually impossible.

Politicians in the West have been very quick to condemn the tyrannical regime of Robert Mugabe and the apparent illegitimacy of his continued rule. Gordon Brown has on numerous occasions criticised the lack of legitimacy with which Mugabe has managed to cling onto office in Zimbabwe.

Similarly, our Foreign Secretary, David Miliband made a statement to reporters and the media in which he commented:

We face a critical crisis of legitimacy because it’s clear that the only people with any shred of legitimacy are the people who won the March 29th first round and that was the opposition.

The problem is that Gordon Brown and David Miliband wouldn’t know what democratic legitimacy was if it came up and punched them in the face (which quite a few people would like to do).

By ramming the Lisbon Treaty through Parliament without the referendum they promised, which was arguably illegitimate and undemocratic, Mr Brown and Miliband have proven that they are prepared to condemn the lack of democratic legitimacy in Zimbabwe without upholding such values themselves.

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Smoke And Mirrors

It has now been a week since David Davis made the surprise announcement that he intended to stand down as an MP and fight a by-election on the issue of the Government’s ‘42 days’ bill.

As a man of principle, unlike so many of our useless Members of Parliament, Mr Davis has put his beliefs and country before his political career and for that should be applauded. As a result Labour are running scared and have refused to field a candidate to help defend their stance.

Unsurprisingly, Gordon Brown has attempted to label Mr Davis’ resignation as a crude stunt while various Government Ministers have said the by-election to be a waste of tax payers’ money and are calling for Mr Davis to pay for its costs – which is curious since the Labour party under Brown and Blair have carelessly wasted billions on various crackpot schemes and initiatives, so are hardly in a position to lecture anyone else on the use of public funds.

However, while Mr Davis is undoubtedly a man of principle and a strong opponent of this Government’s continual attacks on our civil liberties, there is almost certainly more to his resignation than meets the eye. This is as much about the political direction of the Conservative party as it is about Government legislation.

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Campaigning In Bath

On Saturday I attended a Conservative Future campaign day in Bath where we were canvassing for Bath’s prospective Conservative Member of Parliament, Fabian Richter who was selected by the local association about a year ago.

The Conservatives lost Bath at the 1992 General Election when, then Chairman of the Conservative Party, Chris Patten was unseated by the Liberal Democrats. The newly elected MP, Don Foster has been the incumbent ever since.

Having the opportunity to go canvassing in other constituencies is almost always an interesting experience. Talking to a different set of people often gives you a better idea of the national or regional mood than you tend to get from just one constituency.

One thing that I immediately noticed was the willingness with which voters in Bath would freely admit how they were intending to vote, often without even being asked. Another was the common desire among many previous Lib Dem and Conservative voters to get rid of the current Labour Government.

Following the afternoon’s campaigning we all went to have a drink in a pub called Chequers which is very near the Royal Crescent. Conservative Future members from Bristol were there including, Nick Webb and Chris Smith. It was also good to finally be able to meet Zehra Zaidi who is on the South West Conservative MEP list. All in all a successful day.