Monday, November 09, 2009
Tories' European embarrassment
I missed this story in yesterday's Sunday Times but that does not make it any less significant. As David Cameron struggles to keep his Euro sceptics in the box until after the next General Election he is also fighting a battle on another front, trying to limit the damage caused by his alliance with some rather dubious European bedfellows, made as part of a attempt to appease the Tory right wing.
The Sunday Times reports that in an attempt to contain embarrassing outbursts from its new partners on the east European right, the Tory party has sent its media minders to control their public image.
Conservative press officers have take over management of the media appearances of Michal Kaminski, the Polish MEP whose views are at the centre of the controversy, and are said to hand-pick his interviews, which are conducted in the presence of at least two Tory advisers. A Conservative official now runs the ECR’s press operation.
They further report that Edward McMillan-Scott, formerly a senior Tory MEP, expelled from the party after successfully running against Kaminski for the post of a vice-president of the European parliament, has said that the policy extended beyond Kaminski to other east European MEPs from ECR.
The paper also tells us that some Conservatives are trying to establish a new pan-European party that would be eligible for up to €1m (£893,000) in EU funding. The party, called Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists, could enable its MEPs to receive up to €15,000 (£13,400) on top of their current pay. They say that as many as 10 Tory MEPs are said to have refused to sign up to the new party.
It seems that Cameron has opened Pandora's box and cannot get the lid back on.
The Sunday Times reports that in an attempt to contain embarrassing outbursts from its new partners on the east European right, the Tory party has sent its media minders to control their public image.
Conservative press officers have take over management of the media appearances of Michal Kaminski, the Polish MEP whose views are at the centre of the controversy, and are said to hand-pick his interviews, which are conducted in the presence of at least two Tory advisers. A Conservative official now runs the ECR’s press operation.
They further report that Edward McMillan-Scott, formerly a senior Tory MEP, expelled from the party after successfully running against Kaminski for the post of a vice-president of the European parliament, has said that the policy extended beyond Kaminski to other east European MEPs from ECR.
The paper also tells us that some Conservatives are trying to establish a new pan-European party that would be eligible for up to €1m (£893,000) in EU funding. The party, called Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists, could enable its MEPs to receive up to €15,000 (£13,400) on top of their current pay. They say that as many as 10 Tory MEPs are said to have refused to sign up to the new party.
It seems that Cameron has opened Pandora's box and cannot get the lid back on.
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I am making a study of useful blogs and for the past few days I have been reading yours with interest. It is one of the best I have found. It seems to me that most Westminster MPs have dreadful and untended blogs and some even seem to be unused templates ?
Please how can I register to be a regular follower ? (as I have done with Boris Johnson !)
Peter Williams
Hay-on-Wye
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Please how can I register to be a regular follower ? (as I have done with Boris Johnson !)
Peter Williams
Hay-on-Wye
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