I have yet to watch Meryl Streep’s portrayal of Margaret Thatcher. I’m sure it will be fascinating, but I just fear that it might also be a bit too painful – I find it hard to divorce my views on the politics of that era from my memories of avoidable hardship experienced by the community I grew up in. Then again, perhaps I should try and get over my Thatcherphobia and view her record a bit more dispassionately. Where better to start than Mrs T’s record on Europe?
Sat behind me in Parliament, amongst the ranks of my valued coalition colleagues, is a legion of people who revere Mrs Thatcher and in particular her anti-Europeanism. I hate to shatter their world view, but Mrs Thatcher was in practice a pro-European Prime Minister and in her pomp would have considered the self-professed Euro Sceptics to be dangerous extremists acting against Britain’s interests.
Arguably, the Conservatives won the 1983 election by characterising themselves as international team players acting in the British interest, seeking to remain at the heart of Europe and at the heart of NATO. By contrast, Labour’s Michael Foot was depicted by Mrs T as being a splitter who wanted to leave both Europe and NATO and who allowed ideological concerns to get in the way of acting pragmatically in order to further the British cause. Doesn’t this sound familiar today?
There isn’t a chance that the Iron Lady would have done a Cameron, walking away from last week’s Euro summit with nothing! Above all, she wouldn’t have got herself into such a weak position in the first place. Whilst she would wield her handbag to great effect for domestic consumption, she also knew how to build alliances and to develop loyalties in private and in public. Her ability to achieve results from her relationship with the French Socialist President Francois Mitterand is in stark contrast to our current Prime Minister’s inability to build any kind of relationship with his fellow Conservative Nicolas Sarkozy.
David Cameron ought to sit in the same political group as Sarkozy and Merkel, in which case they would view him as a fellow moderate Conservative and would also spend more time in his company at EPP summits and thus develop mutually beneficial relationships (as Mrs Thatcher did with West Germany’s Helmet Kohl, for instance). However David Cameron’s decision to quit the EPP and join the lunatic fringe of the ECR means that Merkel and Sarkozy do not see him as an ally when they should, they don’t consider him a conservative, sadly they don’t take him seriously, viewing him with suspicion. This is very bad for Britain and especially for jobs and business over here.
I am a passionate European, but I am not a starry-eyed EU fanatic. There is everything right about a rational liberal scepticism about any political institution, but something very wrong and dangerous about an irrational phobia.
I don’t like the phrase ‘repatriation of powers from the EU’, it sounds wrong and rather right wing. But I do believe in devolution – so why shouldn’t I believe in devolving powers from the EU to nation states, to regions and to councils? Why shouldn’t Lib Dems come out and say that the European Working Time Directive has been a straight jacket that has caused untold damage to our hospitals, for example?
While employers look on at Britain’s isolation in Europe with despair, now is the moment to be the rational voice in government calling for international teamwork in the interests of British jobs, against the shrill voices who distort Mrs Thatcher’s legacy and who ironically have ended up sounding more like Michael Foot.
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22 Comments
LibDems sit with Fianna Fáil, how is that working out for you?
Strange that the Merkozy plan is coming apart as each and every country begins to pick it apart.
guido,
do you really want to compare who the lib dems sit with, with whom the tories are allied?
that would be a fun game
“However David Cameron’s decision to quit the EPP and join the lunatic fringe of the ECR means that Merkel and Sarkozy do not see him as an ally when they should, they don’t consider him a conservative, sadly they don’t take him seriously, viewing him with suspicion.”
I get bored of saying this, but:
The tories were a euro-sceptic party that existed within a federalist block, it was entirely appropriate for them to leave, regardless of whether it required a right-wing party leaving the bien-pensant approved right-wing bloc.
FYI, the ECR founding articles include:
Free enterprise, free and fair trade and competition, minimal regulation, lower taxation, and small government as the ultimate catalysts for individual freedom and personal and national prosperity.
Freedom of the individual, more personal responsibility and greater democratic accountability.
Sustainable, clean energy supply with an emphasis on energy security.
The importance of the family as the bedrock of society.
The sovereign integrity of the nation state, opposition to EU federalism and a renewed respect for true subsidiarity.
The overriding value of the transatlantic security relationship in a revitalised NATO, and support for young democracies across Europe.
Effectively controlled immigration and an end to abuse of asylum procedures
Efficient and modern public services and sensitivity to the needs of both rural and urban communities.
An end to waste and excessive bureaucracy and a commitment to greater transparency and probity in the EU institutions and use of EU funds.
Respect and equitable treatment for all EU countries, new and old, large and small.
A FAR more appropriate bloc with which to belong to.
The Lib Dems are the biggest Euro fanatics after the FT. Do you guys ever call anything right?
Good article from Tim!
“LibDems sit with Fianna Fáil, how is that working out for you?”
Well, I believe. Certainly the FF representatives made very useful contriution to the European Liberal Democrats congress in Palermo last month.
@jedi
Why do you think the EPP are federalist? When has the EPP called for the creation of a federal state? I do not think that is the position of the CDU, the UMP or Forza Italia or another EPP parties that I can think of.
@jedi
Why did the Conservatives / the ECR Group vote against gay rights, in particular recognition of civil partnerships?
Are you happy that a couple might go on holdiay to another European state, have an accident and their civil partnership not be recognised for next of kin purposes?
I think the ECR is in favour or legislative gay-bashing.
Tim Farron
“I am a passionate European, but I am not a starry-eyed EU fanatic. There is everything right about a rational liberal scepticism about any political institution, but something very wrong and dangerous about an irrational phobia.”
What, I wonder, is the difference between “passionate European” LibDems and “starry-eye EU-fanatic” LibDems? I suppose – from the above – that the former passionately hate “wrong and dangerous” EU-sceptics while the latter have no “rational liberal scepticism” about the EU. That figures!
“David Cameron ought to sit in the same political group as Sarkozy and Merkel,”
No he shouldn’t because the Conservatives fundamentally disagree with the EPP on pretty every European issue. They should not sit together just out of grubby, political calculations about how best to curry favour. The ECR makes up a very similar proportion of the european parliament as the Lib Dems do in Westminster. Should the Lib Dems abandon their party and join either Labour or the Conservatives? That would almost certainly give them more influence and power in the long term. I once thought Lib Dems believed in having principles and applying those principles in politics rather than making every calculation in terms of grubby short term advantage. Is that not the case then I take it? Or is that merely not the case when it comes to the EU?
“I don’t like the phrase ‘repatriation of powers from the EU’, it sounds wrong and rather right wing. ”
I really hope you’re joking. You agree with something in principle but you oppose it in practice because it sounds “grubby and rather right wing”, as opposed to any logical, factual or rational problems with the idea? I take back that comment about thinking Lib Dems have ever had principles.
Before Lib Dems complain about the British public and the other parties being anti-Europe they should perhaps explain how their own (positive) critique of the EU goes rather than just rushing to the ramparts whenever anyone attacks the EU. Farron makes at least a start here. But what about the disasters of the CAP, the CFP, the Merkozy policies that are plunging Europe back into recession, the waste of dual-location for the European parliament, and the lack of a sense of democratic connection with the EU and with the idea of ‘Europe’ generally. Don’t just blame the right-wing press, tell us what positive action you yourselves would take to improve these things.
Can Tim tell us how our fellow Europeans manage to overcome the terrible working time directive and run hospitals as well a outperforming us in manufacturing?
It is undeniable that ‘repatriation of powers from the EU’ does sound like a couple of steps away from ‘repatriation of foreigners’.
If we’re talking about the Europe’s potential to create jobs I find it bizarre that we don’t teach European languages in school to a far higher standard, enabling kids to have positive experiences and build relationships in places they may not have expected. You just don’t get that with a tourist’s grasp of the basics.
The concern over immigration is directly linked – through ignorance of neighbour’s cultures and the supressed ability to seek temporary jobs, resettle permanently and generally become more economically mobile. People with wider horizons are more socially mobile too.
And I’ll bet you could find plenty of qualifed language teachers languishing among the unemployed!
How many schools offer a choice of European languages, let alone teach Polish, Swedish, Portuguese, Hungerian or Greek?
@ Anthony Hook – “I think the ECR is in favour or legislative gay-bashing.”
I hope you will understand that I don’t spend a lot of time following gay issues, so was unaware of what you mentioned, but having read the following on pinknews:
“Mr Callanan could not be reached for comment but a Conservative spokesman said that while the party supports civil partnerships, it does not believe the EU should force countries to recognise them.”
“He told PinkNews.co.uk: “Our amendments sought to ensure that matters related to family law are decided under unanimity with all 27 countries agreeing, rather than under a Qualified Majority system where one country could find its family law altered against its will.”
“We fully support civil partnerships in the United Kingdom and we hope that other countries will cooperate to ensure that such partnerships are recognised abroad. However, we do not believe that it should be the place of the European Union to dictate family law or social policy in another country.”
I’m not sure there is much that i disagree with.
@ Orangepan – “It is undeniable that ‘repatriation of powers from the EU’ does sound like a couple of steps away from ‘repatriation of foreigners’.”
Would you like to back that up, with evidence demonstrating how there is a causal link between my support for Britain (and other countries if that is their wish) to remain a sovereign nation-state, and a deep-rooted desire to round up all the johnny-foreigners who arrived here legitimately under european freedom of movement?
You think every gay man and woman in the UK should not have their legal relationship recognised if they go to another state for work or holiday? I suppose you think recognition of inter racial marriages should be a state issue, and not one the Union should protect for its citizens?
If a state introduced anti-semitic laws you don’t think it would be for the Union to intervene? Preventing discrimination against one group of citizens or another was precisely a reason for founding the Union because discrimination has led to so much suffering in the past.
“Can Tim tell us how our fellow Europeans manage to overcome the terrible working time directive and run hospitals as well a outperforming us in manufacturing?”
For a start they manage the hospitals part because they don’t run their healthcare on the sole basis of on nationalised, socialist, monolithic national healthcare provider like the NHS.
You happy to follow them down the path on that one?
I must confess to not being Tim’s number one fan politically but I enjoyed this article….he makes a number of points with which I agree, however he talks about the working time directive ruining ‘our’ hospitals,,,yet they have the same directive and hospitals in every other country in the EU, which indicates thatt he problem is with how the hopsitals are run, rather than how the working dtime directive impacts…
Tickle Duster..apart from opposing the iraq war Vince on the financial criss, and the need to split the banks up…the welafer state, and paddy ashdown being a lone voice for intervention in the former yugoslavai I cant think of anything we got right?
“You think every gay man and woman in the UK should not have their legal relationship recognised if they go to another state for work or holiday?”
I would certainly like them too, but it is not my job, nor too the EU’s job, to force representative european democracies to legislate in a manner that is not congruent with the will of their people.
Every EU Treaty since Rome has said it is the job of the Community/Untion to uphold and enforce fundamental rights of citizens.
You didn’t answer my further question. If a state intrduced anti-semitic laws, you don’t think the Union should intervene?