aarable

A friend of mine could not comprehend why David Cameron had set the whips against Bill Cash's bill to ensure the supremacy of Parliament, having already supported the amendment for a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty:

‘Notwithstanding any provision of the European Communities Act 1972 [this act took us into the EEC, now EU] nothing in this Act shall affect or be construed by any court in the United Kingdom as affecting the supremacy of the United Kingdom Parliament.

(40 Conservative MPs defied the whip)

My friend wrote:

'David Cameron voted for a referendum, what are they playing at?.'

I WOULD SUGGEST:

The Conservatives were quite happy to go through the pretence that they wanted a referendum when they couldn't have collectively cared less.


It's a little game they play - the party in power, Conservative or Labour, always push treaties through, whilst the opposition oppose. This way it appears that we have a semblance of democracy.

But when it came to voting for the supremacy of Parliament, then DC wouldn't dare go for it. Backing that, even if the whole Conservatives Party voted for the amendment could not possibly cause the supremacy of Parliament to be restored (against a strong opposition). So why didn't he GO FOR IT?

Doing so would have meant that David Cameron had publicly nailed his flag to the anti-EU mast. This is a position that those who control the party could not possibly have accepted - he would have been fired.

BTW: The press caught David Cameron liaising with Gordon Brown's confidant and personal friend Alan Parker in South Africa on his recent holiday there. This holiday was just prior to the 3rd reading of the Treaty of Lisbon vote in the Commons.

I wonder whether the two might have been discussing strategy over the amendment calling for a referendum so that there were no upsets to getting the amendment quashed?

Millennium3

Yes - the Tories are double dealing. By not supporting this amendment they confirmed any lingering doubts that their pressing for a referendum is anything other than for political advantage this is why they are not promising a post ratification referendum.

What they really want is to win the next election and for Cameron to represent the state of Britain at the Council of Ministers.

chikrodah

Any chance you could check the font size of the items you quote, aarable? Maybe reduce them a little so those of us who aren't extremely short-sighted can stop feeling as though we're being shouted at?

Britannist

More about pro-EU and anti-UKIP David Cameron at:

Cameron's "groovy new" incarnation of "Notting Hill set modernisers" (claim)

gimlet

Heres the Hansard of the vote:

House of Commons Hansard Debates for 05 Mar 2008 (pt 0024)

Britannist

Britannist

aarable

I am not generally given to fowl language, but I can well understand the present mood on Devil's Kitchen:

The Devil's Kitchen: Parliament says, "we don't want sovereignty"

over the sell out by our parliamentarians (if that is what we should still call them), excepting for the honourable few, that is, over Bill Cash's bill to uphold the supremacy of Parliament (the chamber that represents the people and returns powers at each election to us, or should).

I quote the last paragraph to wet your appetite:

'And when that time comes, you ******* MPs will barricade yourselves within your house of cards—that intricate gothic structure that is now merely a building and no longer the proud seat of power that it once was—making your last phone call to your loved ones (those that aren't there anyway, posing and being paid as your "secretaries") as the doors crash down and the baying mob rush in to tear you limb from limb.'

'Your will regret this, you f***s.'

Millennium3

Tempers are beginning to run high after the referendum proposal was rejected by the HofC. Lets hope all of this rage can be put into a concerted effort by everyone who wants the Lisbon Treaty not to be law.

There is no sign yet that all those against the treaty will work together.