Unfit for office

Although the Sunday Telegraph is trying to spin it in a way that makes it sound as if the Boy King has taken a firm line of the EU constitution - and thus lay claim to Eurosceptic credentials - he also writes his own opinion piece.

There, the Boy writes: "With reform, Europe can be a force for good." He actually means the European Union, so the man is either being deliberately obtuse, or is genuinely stupid, in not making the difference clear.

Next month, he goes on to tell us, the European Union will mark the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome, establishing the European Economic Community, the forerunner of today's EU. "Exhausted by war, fearful of Soviet Communism on Europe's doorstep, and with economies in a state of collapse, the EU (EEC shurley?) was the post-war generation's response to the realities of the day."

Actually, it was the response of some tired old men – the post-war generation was never consulted – but we'll let that one pass. Says the Boy, half a century later there are new realities … but "sadly, there is no new EU".

But, he tells us. "Europe can change", and "I believe that Europe has a responsibility to change. It has a responsibility to its own people - to help foster the conditions for economic success in an age of fiercely competitive globalisation; and it has a responsibility to the wider world - to be a force for good in tackling global challenges like poverty and climate change."

Excuse me Boy… "its own people"? And just who might they be?

Anyhow, the Cameron "big idea" is that "we have a great opportunity to lead Europe in a new direction." We can "move away from the culture of centralisation and regulation towards a new flexibility and dynamism." We can "reform the EU so it that it looks outwards to the world, not inwards to itself."

All that has to happen, people, is that, "The EU must end its addiction to regulation and embrace the habits of prosperity and enterprise," it must "push the WTO to reduce tariffs and stand up unequivocally for free and fair trade for the developing world" and then… "it must become a force for a cleaner, greener planet."

Those of us who care about Europe's future, he says, "must make the EU confront its endemic flaws." And to do that, he has the "European Reform Commission". It will do just that…

In March we hold our inaugural conference in Brussels, where some of the EU's leading politicians will listen to, and learn from, a range of public policy experts. Together we will set out an agenda for European reform, and explore practical reform proposals.

The conference will also launch a comprehensive and detailed review of the EU's policies, priorities, institutional capabilities and budget based on the Movement for European Reform's three commitments: open markets, a Europe of nation states and a strong Atlantic relationship.

The European Reform Commission will publish its recommendations in 2008, and it will be open to all those individuals, organisations, businesses and political parties in Europe who share our determination to make the EU work better.

Please, please, please tell me that he doesn't believe this guff … that it is just a wind-up. Please tell me that he knows about Intergovernmental Conferences … that he knows about the need for unanimity to achieve treaty changes … that he knows that all he suggests would require treaty changes …

But the sad truth is that he probably doesn't. Like so many dismal Tory fantasists before him, he is locked in never-never land where he thinks that all he has to do is toddle off to Brussels and say "pretty please" - and the "colleagues" will immediately roll over and give him everything he wants. So, in that never-never land, he trots out the same mindless Europhile drivel that his predecessors have done for so many decades.

This is the man who, as prime minister, would represent us in "Europe". If he believes that drivel, he is a dangerous cretin, and unfit for office. He doesn't believe it, then he should not be saying it. That makes him unfit for office. Either way, then, he is unfit for office.

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