Row escalates over 'vile' Tory allies

[oldironside]

" Two prominent east European allies of the Tories at the centre of a bitter row over their far-right links will be attending the Conservatives' annual conference in Manchester next week.

David Miliband, the foreign secretary, yesterday accused Michal Kaminski, the rightwing Polish leader of the Conservatives' caucus in the European parliament, of having an antisemitic and neo-Nazi past. He also said the rightwing Latvian party led by Roberts Zile, For Fatherland and Freedom, was guilty of celebrating Hitler's Waffen-SS.

Leading Jewish figures have condemned the invitation, describing the actions of the Latvian party as "vile". The two men are to take part in a conference fringe meeting on the future of Europe. Both strongly deny the charges levelled by Miliband.

Kaminski, a member of an extreme nationalist Polish party in his youth and a close ally of the president, Lech Kaczynski, is to speak at the session on Tuesday, which is also being attended by the Tories' Europe spokesman, Mark Francois, Conservative sources said.

The Tory alliance with the Polish and Latvian parties erupted into early election sparring after William Hague, the shadow foreign secretary, accused Miliband of cheap jibes and demanded that he retract accusations that Zile's party took part in annual celebrations of the Waffen-SS."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/oct/03/row-over-tory-europe-allies

[Anarcho-Socialist]

1. William Hague is such a prick

"More broadly, by endorsing Soviet propaganda as fact you implicitly denigrate the oppression of tens of millions of eastern Europeans under communism and abet those who still try to justify the crimes of the Soviet era." - William Hague, in above article

Yeah, like the Polish chief rabbi is so big on peddling "Soviet propaganda" :eyes:

[oldironside]

2. He´s doing his best.

But if that´s the best defence a former president of the Oxford debating society can come up with they must really be up shit creak.

Cameron should come clean and admit that he´s leading an anti-European party which, for reasons of political expediency, has to get into bed with a bunch of extremely ugly anti-semitic homophobic racists.

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. And the German (right wing) government is distancing itself from the Tories

Germany's Christian Democrat CDU party, triumphant in the country's recent general election, has downgraded relations with the Conservatives.

The change follows David Cameron's decision to remove his party's MEPs from the centre-right European People's Party (EPP) group in the European Parliament.

Joint policy groups have been scrapped and an annual meeting has been cancelled.

The changes have left critics of the EPP move to claim their prediction - that the Tories would lose influence in Europe - has been fulfilled.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8284973.stm

Can't blame them, given the parties the Tories are allying themselves with.

[oldironside]

4. The Germans do get a bit tetchy about anything connected to...

... German foreign policy in the late thirties and early forties, and anyone who might try to make apologies for it.

During the recent general election campaign I witnessed an attempt by the NPD to canvas in my local shopping centre. All the other parties were there, but had positioned themselves at the opposite entrance, not wanting to stand next to neo-Nazis. At the NPD´s stall there were about half a dozen knuckle draggers, confronted by a counter demonstration of about a dozen anti-Nazis armed with bin liners. The idea being that anyone who took one of the NPD´s leaflets would be encouraged to put it straight in the rubbish. I didn´t actually see anyone take a leaflet in the ten minutes or so I was there. This heartwarming little cameo was completed by no fewer than 18 police officers.

[Anarcho-Socialist]

5. Yeah you're right that it is political expediency

A very short-sighted one of course. Davey had to appeal to the Tory bigots in the Shires to become Conservative leader and it appears as if it's coming back to hurt him.

Europe continues to remain a ticking time-bomb for the Tories. They can afford xenophobia in opposition but it doesn't lend itself well to a future government who needs to get things done with major European powers.

A difficult time is ahead for Cameron. Due to the implosion of the Anglo-Saxon economic consensus, British finance capital is increasingly hedging on the EU to provide a stable trading area and more Euro-integration will be the desired result. Of course this goes against the vast majority of Tory grassroots who oppose the EU for nationalist reasons rather than any question of democracy, but Cameron will have to walk a fine-line to keep both business and the Tory grass-roots on board.

I am guessing that he will put finance interests first (he has to) and will need a Blairesque flair for enforcing his will on a dissenting party. Whether he succeeds depends on whether the parliamentary party will follow, and so it remains to be seen if the Tory xenophobic rants are merely politicking or seriously-held views. Dave just needs to get the parliamentary party on board, as the grass-roots don't matter so much as they are treated with much amusing disdain by their leaders. Besides, the parliamentary party are hungry for power and individual Tories are hungry for government jobs and so they may well wish to put-up with it for so long.

[oldironside]

6. I STRONGLY DISAGREE...

... with the grammar in your last sentence. Otherwise that´s a world class post. Clear, concise and rational.

One point I would make is that Cameron ain´t Blair, and the Tories won´t follow his Rhine Maiden act like the PLP did. Yes, they´re hungry for power (It´s their birthright, or so they beleive) but they have Thatcher´s gut reaction. "In my lifetime all the world´s problems have come from Europe, the solutions from America".

So, by that logic all Europeans are socialist communist fascist nazis who want to abolish the fried breakfast force Brenda to become a char lady. Bastards.

[non sociopath skin]

7. It's hard to see a Cameron administration ...

... which won't come to power with the enthusiasm for change that greeted - God help us - the advent of Thatcher and of Blair, maintaining popularity for very long.

Received wisdom suggests that their recipe for low taxes and spending cuts won't solve anything and the unfortunate stance on Europe won't win them many friends outside their base, as you suggest. Plus the policies which are starting to emerge (see Gove's somewhat bizarre spin on education)seem to have an esoteric, nebbish quality about them which isn't going to have folk dancing in the streets.

Not good.

The Skin

[LeftishBrit]

8. I think you have a very good crystal ball.

[LeftishBrit]

9. Yes.

If I was even thinking of voting for the Tories (which would only happen if I had a hole in the head anyway), the links with far-right-wingers would be a deal-breaker.

[BolivarianHero]

10. "close ally of the president, Lech Kaczynski,"

And he's trying to get convince that he's NOT a Nazi? Not going to work...

[LeftishBrit]

11. More on this...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/oct/06/david-cameron-eu-alliance-questioned

It makes me puke.