History In The Making
EURSOC One
15 June, 2004
Pulling out of Europe is now firmly on the menu of British politics. The implications could be far and wide.
Thanks to the meteoric rise of the UK Independence Party, the unthinkable has suddenly become a real possibility: Leaving the European Union has become an option for Britain.
Both Tony Blair's Labour and the opposition Tories have been caught short by underestimating the hostility to the EU in the country. Worse, both parties tried to rubbish the growing support for the UKIP. This risky strategy backfired - rather than cut off support for the UK IP, mainstream parties created an angry backlash against traditional British policy on Europe.
Two months ago the notion of a European pull-out was unthinkable, considered by politicians and media commentators alike as the domain of crackpots and extremists.
Tony Blair started a chain reaction by conceding to calls for a referendum on the proposed European constitution. For a short moment it appeared that Blair had undermined opposition leader Michael Howard's moderately euro-sceptic Tory party who had based their strategy on demands for a referendum on the constitution.
The Tories, confident of their position as the least integrationist of the main parties, aligned themselves with the European grouping of centre right but federalist EPP-ED. They remained confident of a major success in the European parliamentary elections due to the massive discontent on the left over Blair's Iraq war.
Then, a once in a lifetime event happened - one that has the potential to blow the best laid plans of a generation sky high. The unthinkable and the unacceptable have become a political reality.
Support for the barnstorming UK Independence Party's single issue platform of pulling out of Europe turned from trickle to flood in a matter of weeks.
The UKIP has gone from 2 to 12 seats in the European parliament, splitting the Tory party once more and undermining Blair's negotiating position on the European constitution.
No one saw this coming until it was too late. The Tories are all at sea, flip flopping between almost rabid anti-European rhetoric to match the UKIP and "steady as she goes" platitudes to suit the Europhile old guard in the party (who we at EURSOC know as "No-Nation Tories."
Their message is clear, however, and they have been found out.
The half-in, half-out policies of successive UK governments have meant all pain and no gain for British people who have twigged that there is nothing in this Franco-German led oligarchy that is to their benefit.
Labour have painted themselves into a pro-European federalist corner and find themselves defending a European constitutional treaty that looks more like an armistice to the British public.
Talk of red lines to defend and fighting Britain's corner no longer washes. People can see the agenda for what it is :Irreversible integration into a nightmare super-state.
The bizarre logic of having to persuade UK citizens into giving up their freedoms for nothing in return has come home to roost, begging the question: Why bother in the first place?
That simple crashing logic is the stuff of the UKIP and they could not have a better conveyer of the message than their new leader (in all but name) Robert Kilroy Silk. Kilroy Silk is a straight talking, "working class hero" and veteran TV presenter (18 years at the BBC), a former labour MP and a champion of the hard-up and disaffected. Attempts to brand him and his party as xenophobes and racists won't stick: The Guardian, Observer and all the other usual suspects have tried to no avail.
Silk could not be more different to the PR polished poseurs that we have become so used to under New Labour. In his short, to the point message there is little room for spin. The UKIP also benefits from the most ruthless and skilled publicist in the business, the infamous Max Clifford who is helping with their campaign.
When the political tide turns - and make no mistake, that is what has just happened in Britain - the first reflex of Britain's ruling political and media classes is to ignore the issue and hope it will go away.
We are told that this is a mid-term election blip, that single issue parties come and go and that people are registering a protest vote that will fall away when the national elections come. If they really believe that this time then they are in for a very big shock.
Tony Blair is a Euro-emperor without clothes. Kilroy Silk is pointing a finger right at him and suddenly everyone can see the naked truth. The pull-out option is here to stay: It is trashing the Tories and it will ruin Labour if they continue on their federalist path.
Kilroy Silk is right about the UK IP: "This is a single issue party. The biggest single issue of our generation is about having the confidence to govern ourselves. If it is good for Iraq then why is it not good enough for us?"
It is an infuriatingly simple message but it will not go away: Pulling out is now an option. The main political parties will ignore it at their peril.
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