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Open letter to Quentin Davies MP
London, SW1A 0AA Dear Quentin, Little purpose is served by recriminations after a defection such as yours, and I had not intended to contact you. However I cannot allow your reported comments to go unchallenged, where you say that David Cameron came to office "committed to break a solemn agreement with the EPP". It is certainly the case that we had such an agreement, but it was an agreement that had two sides. The EPP was committed to correcting long-standing organisational injustices relating to the funding, staffing and management of the Conservative MEP delegation. They were also committed to "respecting our distinctive position on institutional and constitutional issues". Having reached that "solemn agreement" (as you describe it), they did what they have always done -- decided that the issue was off the table for another five years, and that they could forget their promises. They made absolutely no attempt to meet their obligations, and indeed have still not done so. David Cameron was therefore not "breaking a solemn agreement", but merely recognising the reality that the agreement was void before the ink was dry. You are not making a substantive point, but merely quibbling in an attempt to justify the unjustifiable. Regards Roger Quentin sent the following reply 10 July 2007 Dear Roger Thank you for your letter about my defection and the EPP-ED story. I appreciate your writing, but I am afraid I cannot accept at all your interpretation of events. If David Cameron had had a difficulty with the EPP on the fulfilment and the workings of the agreement he would have had every reason to say so. He would also have had every reason to test the good faith of our partners while preserving his own and open a dialogue with team in which any grievances could be aired and perhaps resolved. As you know he did nothing of the kind. He simply made a promise that he thought (correctly) would prise a number of votes away from the David Davis camp since David Davis was too responsible to make the promise himself, and had to find a way out of it when he won. It seems to me that those who take your view of the European issue - and, as I think you know, I have always had respect for that view while never concealing my profound disagreement with it - have even more reason to be aggrieved at what I have (politely) called David Cameron's "unreliability" than those on my side of the argument. I wish you luck in a party led by such a man. It is possible that you may need it. Yours ever Quentin Davies MP |