This is a fair summary of the picture of politics today - once we can get rid of this remnant of a parliament hanging on - for what? The public pay no attention to the MPs and the media*pour venom on them by the hour.
Whatever the out-turn at the election there will be a massive gain of seats for the Tories and all independent research shows the likely new MPs to be determinedly anti-post-Lisbon EU. After the traumas of the present parliament the new one will be hell for the whips to control.
Christina
*If the Telegraph, by its irresponsible mixing of serious fact and scurrilous fiction at great length , hoped to boost its circulation, I am delighted that it has not worked. Ciculation in August 2008 was 860k, in August 2009 814k and in October 768k. Only - amongst the “qualities: - were gains shown by the FT, Independent and The Times and all of them minute. The Telegrah showed the biggest loss though it remain 155K ahead of the Times !
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THE SPECTATOR 14.11.09
*How the Tories can still win in Europe
FRASER NELSON
A week after David Cameron ruled out a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, hardly a squeak of protest has been heard from Eurosceptics in his party. It’s not because they have accepted defeat, says Fraser Nelson, but because they are deadly serious about victory
Mr Cameron knows it is a high-risk strategy. His advisers long ago accepted that the days of party loyalty are over. Activists have become more aggressive, less reverential, forming a stronger bond with the constituency groups and a weaker one with Tory HQ. Crucially, Mr Cameron knows just how deep this issue runs for many of his present and future MPs. This is not about Europe, but about big government and the duty to resist it. Fighting for Britain, fighting for public opinion and fighting against the unelected officials of the European Union is what a lot of them genuinely believe they have been sent to parliament to do.
These trends will only harden over time. The new breed of MPs is resolutely Eurosceptic: it is Kenneth Clarke’s generation of soft paternalists that is dying out — as he knows. If the trend in politics is towards a transfer of power from government to communities, then the EU project is 50 years out of date. And if politicians lose heart, the public do not. Opinion polls routinely show that Britain is the most defiantly sceptical member of the EU. This gives the Eurosceptics heart: they believe, and with reason, that they speak for the mainstream.
On Tuesday, Mr Clarke rightly described the Tory position on Europe as offering ‘largely reassurance’. And it has largely worked. Mr Cameron has reasonable Eurosceptic credentials — and, as prime minister, he would have many levers to pull if he chose. For the time being, those lethal Eurosceptics who gather in Bellamy’s on a Monday night are going to trust Mr Cameron to deliver the goods, whatever form they may come in. It is a very British stand-off. Everyone has agreed to fight, but another day, in another way. And no one is in any doubt just how high the stakes still are.
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