More Tory Euro-rebels. Yawn…
Over on uber-Tory blog, Guido Fawkes, they were carrying an exclusive that there were meetings last night of backbench Tories on the issue (once again) of Europe. While Dave’s away the right-wingers will play.
I’m tired of how they seem to be conducting this debate. They come across as children, either complaining that they haven’t got their way or saying “nyah, nyah, told you so”. They’re perfectly entitled to having a debate about the issue but they just seem so immature about it. I’d certainly not be averse to a referendum, just to get the whole issue put to bed, but if the debate is going to be framed in the current manner then any referendum will just be a rerun of the AV vote. Neither side came out of that one smelling of roses and that sort of negative campaigning doesn’t allow the issues to be debated in a rational manner.
They should keep putting pressure on the Tory leadership if they want to but do it in private or get behind a campaign like the People’s Pledge. It’s quite possible to lobby for a referendum without being shrill about it. David Cameron is good at opportunism and I’m sure he’ll give a referendum on the EU if he thinks it’s possible. The constant harping on by the Tory right doesn’t get anything done. It probably plays great with the rest of the UK though…
