Strange reporting is the theme in this posting
First The Guardian takes the biscuit for misrepresenting the truth
with a prime piece of totally slanted reporting? The Guardian
should be ashamed of itself. Mrs Jackson is retiring as as an MEP
any day now not least because the Tories in her area detested her,
especially as
she is married to Robert Jackson, a former MEP for the Upper Thames
and former Member of Parliament for Wantage, who defected to the
Labour Party in 2005.
She is not representative of anybody but her own non-conservative
self. Good riddance is the general opinion in the party
Then we turn to a very strange piece from the FT's Westminster Blog.
Bearing in mind the dirty dealings I outlined in the McBride story I
wonder if anyone can detect here who is lying to whom, and why, and
how much of it is remotely true.
It's a mucky world!
xxxxxxxxxxx cs
================================
THE GUARDIAN 5.5.09
Cameron decision to quit EU group is 'dotty', says Tory MEP
. Nicholas Watt
David Cameron was today accused of adopting a "dotty" approach to the
EU after his decision to withdraw from the main centre-right grouping
in the European parliament.
As the Tory leader launched his campaign for the elections on 4 June,
the only female Conservative MEP described his plan to leave the EPP
grouping as a "pathetic" move that would store up trouble for the party.
Caroline Jackson, Tory MEP for the south-west of England, spoke out
as the Tories held their final meetings in Strasbourg as part of the
EPP-ED grouping before next month's elections.
All Tory candidates have signed a form agreeing to join a new centre-
right grouping after the election, allowing the Conservatives to
leave the fiercely pro-European EPP-ED grouping.
The move follows Cameron's commitment to the rightwing Cornerstone
group of Tory MPs in the 2005 leadership election to leave the EPP,
which is dominated by federalist parties from Germany and France.
There were rumours in Strasbourg yesterday that Jackson would follow
her husband, the former Tory higher education minister Robert
Jackson, in defecting to Labour. The MEP, who is not standing in next
month's election, denied that she was planning to leave the Tories.
But she was scathing about Cameron. She said: "David Cameron's
decision on the EPP is pathetic and will sow the seeds of endless
trouble. It will leave David Cameron and William Hague very isolated
because it will leave bad blood with Christian Democrat parties
throughout Europe. It is a stupid, stupid policy.
"The party will probably have to creep back to the EPP and say sorry.
The Tories are doing this because the party is run by people whose
ultimate agenda is to pull Britain out of the EU. I have been a
member of the Conservative party since 1963 and started working for
the Conservative Research Department in 1973. This is one of the most
dotty escapades the Conservative party had ever embarked on."
Jackson's criticisms are shared by Kenneth Clarke, the pro-European
shadow business secretary. In 2006 [THAT long ago! scraping the
barrel a bit -cs] he described Cameron's decision as "a bit foolish,
rather dangerous". Under European parliamentary rules, the Tories
must form an alliance with MEPs from seven EU member states to form a
grouping. If they fail to clear this hurdle, the Tories would have to
sit with the "non-attached" MEPs at the back of the parliament
alongside Jean Marie Le Pen, the leader of the far-right National
Front in France.
The struggle to find credible partners led Cameron to delay the
formation of a new group after his election as Tory leader. Clarke
said over the weekend that he had been assured by the leadership that
the Tories would not sit with "neo-fascists or cranks or anything of
this kind"
========================
FINANCIAL TIMES Westminster Blog 5.5.09
Nick Brown knifed by fellow cabinet minister
by Jim Pickard
The Daily Mail ran a fascinating story today quoting a cabinet
minister warning that Nick Brown, chief whip, might "have to go" over
his failure to suppress the Royal Mail rebellion.
The unnamed minister said that Brown had invited MPs to come up with
compromise ideas and were free to sign a motion criticising the
plans. "This sort of behaviour is quite extraordinary for the chief
whip. If he carries on, he'll have to go".
Intriguingly, a similar story also ran in The Sun. [That's a McBride
or Draper touch -cs]
Unsurprisingly, potential names in the frame in the Westminster
rumour machine include Peter Mandelson, who is leading the drive to
part-privatise the postal operator. He and Brown are said to be far
from friendly.
Not that he would ever confirm this, of course.
Geraldine Smith, one of the leading rebels, tells me that Nick Brown
is "just doing his job", that is, to act as a go-between between the
government and the Parliamentary Labour Party.
"I'd urge anyone else who is calling for the chief whip to resign,
I'm getting fed up with these people in the shadows, they should come
out of the shadows, Nick Brown is just doing his job."
For some reason Smith seems to think the person in question is
Mandelson.
"Perhaps Peter Mandelson is worried that Brown is speaking to people
who may not agree with him, I have had difficulty trying to get a
meeting with him since February," she says.
Posts
