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Norman Tebbit

Lord Tebbit of Chingford is one of Britain's most outspoken conservative commentators and politicians. He was a senior cabinet minister in Margaret Thatcher's government and is a former Chairman of the Conservative Party. He has also worked in journalism, publishing, advertising and was a pilot in the RAF and British Overseas Airways.

All three main parties are Europhile. Haven't they noticed that the public is Eurosceptic?

By Norman Tebbit Politics Last updated: February 26th, 2010

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I remember still the amusement of that great German statesman Otto von Lambsdorff when at a European Council meeting I warned him to beware of Greeks when they come demanding gifts. Alas, Otto is now dead, but if he were still alive today he might remember those words.

The explosion of anti-German feeling in Greece is simply a result of that country entering the euro bloc on openly and blatantly falsified statisics, assuming that someone, in the name of European solidarity, would bale them out with gifts bought at the expense of the Germans.

The predicament of both German and Greek political leaders is painful to see, and it makes the question posed on this blog by “robbydot” all the more pertinent. Why are all three major parties Europhile?

That was a far easier question to answer in the 1960s. The Tories were still in a mood of postwar funk. They feared that Labour was becoming the natural party of government in an inevitable Leftwards march of politics. The consensus view in the leadership was that the role of Conservative governments was not to undo the follies of socialism but to ameliorate their consequences. That is, not to denationalise business taken into state ownership, but to run them rather better. Nor did they have the guts to take on the trades union leaders.

For them, the prohibition of state subsidies to industry in the Treaty of Rome was a godsend that would rule out the restrictive practices and wild pay demands in the public sector and possibly force denationalisation without the hazards of arguing the case for it. It would be simply a case of force majeure.

Labour opposed entry into the EEC for exactly those same reasons.

The Tories also rather liked the idea of proctectionism and subsidies to benefit agriculture and their voters in the shires, whilst Labour wanted cheap food imports from abroad to benifit their supporters.

It was not until Jacques Delors came to explain to the TUC that the EU is a corporate state in which things would be carved up in private between the big unions, the big businesses and the big politicans (overwhelmingly from the Left) and promised them that European law would neuter British employment law that the Labour Party become Europhile..

As for the Liberals… well, being nice to foreigners and liking European food and wines just made it natural to support an international order based on ever-shifting coalitions in which centre Left minor parties would always have a place at the table.

Perhaps the bigger question is for how much longer can the leaders of the main parties remain Europhile as their natural supporters become more and more Eurosceptic?

Yesterday the Telegraph reported how Our Masters in Brussels have prohibited our security services from applying our “watch list” and “no-fly list” of individuals suspected of terrorist connections coming here on flights from the EU. Our grovelling Government has even performed a pre-emptive cringe by promising that it will not collect information by, or use, its proposed Passenger Name Record Information (PNI) scheme unless Our Masters implement a similar system.

On Wednesday I heard on the BBC (so it must be true) that it looks as though Our Masters will shortly ban the use of pet passports and compulsory inoculation of dogs from the EU. That, according to the doctors and vets, will make it certain that a particularly foul parasite will infect our dogs, foxes and small wild mammals, and then humans with a potentially fatal liver parasite. That apparently is one of the benefits of membership of the EU. The extraordinary common feature of these two outrages is that whilst they will damage us, in these islands, they will bring no worthwhile benefits to other Europeans.

When will our political leaders come to the rescue of the British people?

No doubt the automated NuLab response system calling itself “A future fair for all” (AFFFA) which generates juvenile slogans from the NULab redoubt will tell us.

The other day the AFFFA wrote “I wish the Daily Mail could be shut down”. Imagine the shrieks if I had said: “I wish the Guardian could be shut down.” And it continued: “Europhobes make me sick.” Put in another category of human beings in the place of “Europhobes”. How about immigrants, lesbians, welfare junkies, or any other group beloved by the Left? There is something contemptably mini-minded about the AFFFA automated response system which puts it outside rational debate. It will be ignored from here on.

I was asked by tom fairbrother how we might sort out welfare. That deserves a blog post to itself at some time in the future. Nor have I fogotten Archie23’s concern about selling council houses or those who hope that the polls this year are as misleading as they were in 1992.

But I have had a busy week in the Lords, so I’ll leave it there for a day or two.

Tags: eu, germany, Greece, Jacques Delors, pet passports, Treaty of Rome