Jacket Copy (Free subscription) | yesterday
It is, reviewer David Davis writes, nearly impossible to find two opposing superstars whose sports careers became as linked as Larry Bird's and Magic Johnson's. In 1979, when Bird was a college senior and Johnson a junior, they led their...
The Guardian (Free subscription) | 06/11/2009
David Cameron has been deeply dishonest – he knew how his 'cast iron guarantee' on a referendum would be interpreted So it all becomes clear. David Cameron's announcement was in a sense a classic example of the new political dialogue. The politics of the gameshow host. Say anything to ensure you still have an audience next Saturday. What he basically said was this. "You the electorate are...
Guerrilla Welsh-Fare (Free subscription) | 05/11/2009
Dan Hannan has in the past caused quite a few headaches for David Cameron. Today he has added to that again after he and fellow Tory MEP Roger Helmer quit their front bench roles in protest to Cameron’s European U-Turn . Whilst Cameron has passed off Hannan as a ‘political eccentric’ in the past, and there is no doubt that is a kind way of putting it, he does represent a strong Euro...
The Guardian (Free subscription) | 05/11/2009
The Tory leader's defective analysis of Europe consists of scapegoating the union for UK problems that have their roots at home Every cloud has its proverbial silver lining. A skillfully handled retreat from the barricades – in this case of Lisbon – is one of the hardest manoeuvres in politics, as it is in war. It requires discipline and loyalty in the ranks of Eurosceptic colleagues who...
Tracey Crouch (Free subscription) | 05/11/2009
Last night, Rehman Chishti, the PPC for Gillingham, and I were invited to speak to some law students at the University of Kent. Although I read law at University, I never went into practice despite my then-held ambition to become an international maritime lawyer! Instead I was more interested in the constitutional and philosophical side of law and so my political journey began. Reh on the other hand...
ConservativeHome's ToryDiary (Free subscription) | 04/11/2009
I can't pretend I'm enthusiastic about what David Cameron has announced this afternoon. No referendum of any kind. Given that Lisbon is a self-amending Treaty, full of ratchet clauses, the promise of future referenda on transfers of power is a bit like closing the stable door after the horse has bolted. There were no meaningful threats to Europe if there is no serious willingness from other EU leaders...
[objet petit a] (Free subscription) | 04/11/2009
Earlier this afternoon the Tory leader David Cameron gave a speech on his party's European policy - you can read the speech in full over at Iain Dale's blog . Andrew Sparrow at the Graun summarises it as follows: First, [Cameron] will legislate to ensure that there has to be a referendum whenever powers are transferred to Europe. He says the "referendum lock" will cover not just those occasions...
The Guardian (Free subscription) | 04/11/2009
Rolling coverage as the Tory leader outlines his revised Europe policy after dropping his pledge to hold a referendum on the Lisbon treaty 3.45pm: This is big stuff. For the last few years David Cameron has been able to assert his Eurosceptic credentials by promising a referendum on the Lisbon treaty. His party has been united behind him. But that policy has now collapsed and Cameron is about to announce...
EU Referendum (Free subscription) | 04/11/2009
They are wriggling, they are wriggling but it is getting them nowhere except with a decreasing number of blind supporters. First Open Europe , now David Davis . All stuck on stupid. Over on Your Freedom and Ours. Enjoy.
Bob Piper (Free subscription) | 04/11/2009
As we wait with bated breath for David Cameron's sleight of hand to get round his broken cast-iron promise on an EU referendum, David Davis suggests a device which would give people a referendum on: recovering control over our criminal justice, asylum and immigration policies; a robust opt-out of the European Charter of Fundamental Rights; serious exemptions to the seemingly endless flood of European...
Mary Honeyball MEP (Free subscription) | 04/11/2009
It’s gratifying to be proved right, though rather less gratifying when it’s on such a fundamental subject as Britain in the EU. Since I posted yesterday, David Cameron has been put in a very invidious position by the ex-Tory Shadow Home Secretary David Davis. Davis has, in effect, issued a direct challenge to Cameron’s authority on [...]
Iain Dale's Diary (Free subscription) | 04/11/2009
When I wrote about the decision by David Cameron to change policy on a EU Referendum on Sunday, I suggested that, instead, there should be a referendum giving a new government a mandate to negotiate to repatriate powers from the EU. I wrote... I can see a very strong case for a referendum with the aim of giving the British government a direct mandate to negotiate repatriation of powers, but it is equally...
Daniel1979 Blog (Free subscription) | 04/11/2009
Why go churning around the Internet when all of the best links are already here? Here is a special Recommended Reading where the texts are proboably only valid until 4pm today, and is focused on The Conservatives, Lisbon and the referendum that never was. Daniel Hannan says a referendum now on Lisbon may well no longer be the most logical option, but a broad repatriation of powers is essential. Roger...
The Guardian (Free subscription) | 04/11/2009
Tory leader's former rival calls for wider plebiscite as Cameron prepares to set out new policy on Europe after dropping pledge on Lisbon treaty David Cameron today faced a challenge to his authority when the former shadow home secretary David Davis urged him commit himself to holding a referendum on Britain's relationship with the EU within three months of taking office. Davis set out his proposals...
Next Left (Free subscription) | 04/11/2009
Just as the former Home Secretary David Davis argues that the Tory party should make a referendum on Europe its first act if elected , there is an interesting poll on ConservativeHome , showing that David Davis - followed by John Redwood or Michael Howard - would be most trusted by the Tory grassroots to lead a renegotiation of Britian's position in Europe. Why? Surely it is because Davis is widely...
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