Letter to the Editor
The Guardian - Friday 6th January 2006
Dear Sir,
Polly Toynbee asks "What is (David Cameron) doing leading Tory MEPs into the party of Mussolinis and rag-bag neo-fascists?" (Jan 3rd). Polly is either vastly ignorant, or intentionally mendacious and mischievous, or quite possibly both.
First, which Party does she mean? Having sat in the European parliament for over six years, I know of no such party. Secondly, when did Cameron express such an intention? Never. There no possibility, and never has been, of Conservative MEPs joining up with "rag-bag neo-fascists".
Currently, Conservative MEPs sit with the European Peoples' Party (EPP), which is often to the left of New Labour and is committed to building a United States of Europe. The EPP is wholly at variance with Conservative policy over a wide range of issues, and Cameron is right to conclude that the relationship is unsustainable, and is a reproach to the Party. Indeed, as a Brussels journalist recently pointed out, if we were outside the EPP but proposing to join, there would be a chorus of outrage (not least from Polly Toynbee). One EPP party, the German CDU, recently ran an overtly racist anti-immigration campaign. Two leaders of major EPP parties (Berlusconi, Chirac) are facing serious charges of financial and/or political impropriety.
Cameron's intention is that we should form a new group of moderate, centre-right, free-market, Atlanticist, pro-nation-state MEPs. This project is both practical and long overdue.
Yours faithfully
Roger Helmer MEP
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