Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Cameron "snubs" EPP leader meeting?

Both the Times and the Indenpedent are this morning reporting that Cameron has "snubbed" the meeting of European leaders from the European Peoples Party in the European Parliament tomorrow, although the official line is that Cameron has "diary commitments".

Not going to this meeting seems a tad odd to me though. Of course, Cameron has said that come the next European elections the Conservative Party will form a new centre-right grouping in the EP and move away from the federalist grouping. This line, dependent on ones view, was either the fix (or the failure) of his leadership campaign commitment to withdraw the party from the EPP.

However, in the meantime the party does remain a member of this grouping and it seems a bit wierd frankly to not be going to a meeting where he can put his case across to the likes of Angela Merkel and the Francois Fillon. After all, there are a couple of years to go yet before the party is not in the in the EPP (assuming the commitment to withdraw happens).

I have no idea what the diary commitments are of course, and I'm sure by tomorrow we'll know, and there will be some more pouring over whether it was the right or wrong thing to do. On the face of it it just seems odd to me. Genuine diary clash, or gesture gesture to the right of the party (as Denis MacShane reckons)? I don't bloody know.

4 comments:

Old BE said...

I read "dietary commitments" the first time I read that.

Chris Paul said...

Probably emptying dustbins in Horfield to go with his hoody hugging in Wythenshawe and his asian sweet centre in Edgbaston?

What a clot he is.

Anonymous said...

The Conservative Party is not a member party of the pan-European EPP.

In the European Parliament the Conservatives (except Roger Helmer) sit with the European Democrats, a group which sits extremely closely indeed with the EPP Group.

dizzy said...

Oh dear I missed a D, and you point is what exactly?