Independent UKIP

Regarding Politico's bookshop I also liked the shop and sometimes went out of my way to go there. It stocked periodicals like the European Journal and These Tides as well as lots of obsucre political pamphlets & books not available elsewhere.

However my strong understanding of the facts of the closure was that the landlord increased the rent by a very large amount which made it impossible for the shop to continue so thus it moved onto the internet only. So it was neither a failure nor sold as has been said here.

Britannist

Exactly. The europhile Liberal Dims think they can win an 'in our out' referendum on the EU but not one on the EU Constitution (which the EU are, very temporarily, calling the EU 'Amending' Treaty).

The Dim Liberals believe the British people would vote for the status quo in a referendum any time soon on EU membership (ie. they think the people of the UK would vote to stay in the EU). What concerns the deceitful europhile Liberal Dims is that they think the British people would also vote for the status quo as regards the EU Constitution - i.e. the electorate would vote for what we have now, which is NO EU Constitution.

Britannist

This is the correct tactic of the Conservatives - they are right to concentrate on the EU Constitution (EU 'Amending' Treaty).

While our top priority is getting out of the EU - the issue in hand for most people at this point in time is the EU Constitution.

Although the europhile Liberal Dims have claimed they want a referendum on the EU Constitution (as did Labour at the last General Election) it is, of course, the very last thing that either want.

As usual, the pro-EU Labour Party and the europhile Liberal Dims find that they have much in common: denying the people of the UK a say on the transfer of our sovereign powers to the EU.

Not that the Conservatives are exactly in the best position to call for a referendum. Thanks to Major who denied the country a say on the EU Maastricht Treaty (and Heath who forced us into the EEC/EU without a referendum first), the Conservatives also now have a record of denying the people a say on EEC/EU matters.

Britannist

The timing for an 'in or out of the EU' referendum has to be right.

We have to think of what the policy priorities for the nation are - and right now the EU is not at the top of the list of concerns of most voters (although it would be if they were fully aware of just how much damage it is doing to their own pockets and to the country).

Britannist

A leading UKIP figure said a while back that the Conservatives "always go eurosceptic just before a General Election".

Whatever the Conservative leadership say about the EU now - the fact is that the ban on anti-EU Conservative MPs sitting in the Shadow Cabinet (introduced by David Cameron) continues; the Conservatives are still in the pro-euro EPP group in Brussels (David Cameron promised to quit it over two years ago); the Conservatives officially support the hugely damaging EU fishing policy (the pledge to quit it was ditched by David Cameron) and David Cameron still refuses to apologise for his insulting comments made (in a radio interview in April of last year) about UKIP and its members.

And, of course, the Conservatives are officially in favour of the UK remaining fully in the EU.

Britannist

There are certainly some Conservative members who fail to understand that a big change took place in British politics when europhile 'Conservative' Major tried to force the EU Maastricht Treaty through.

Major's actions (and his enthusiastic support for the EU Exchange Rate Mechanism and the euro) led to the launch of UKIP and to the Conservatives losing vital votes in marginal seats to UKIP.

The Conservatives have never won a General Election since UKIP was set up 15 years ago.

There is a failure of some Conservative members to recognise that their party has always relied upon the pro-sovereignty vote and that that vote - thanks to Heath/Major - has been lost to UKIP (with millions of Conservatives no longer voting at all in protest at the Conservative Party handing more powers to the EU).

The Bruges Group says the Conservatives failed to win 27 target seats at the last General Election because it has lost vital anti-EU votes. My forecast is that that figure will rise to 50 at the next General Election unless the Conservative leadership starts to take the threat from the EU very seriously.

gingerwhinger

Who's that and who does he/she work for?

Mikeuk

The Tory Party is now crawling with these homosexuals, in fact I would go so far as to say that the gay mafia is pulling all its strings.

That's one reason why it's time for this sick, immoral party to be totally destroyed.

Anthony Butcher

Are you saying that it is sick and immoral because it has gay members?

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Britannist

There are a couple of people who think that Gordon Brown's current political difficulties mean that the Cameron-Conservatives will win the next General Election.

My view is that Labour will have to fight hard to retain their overall majority in the Commons next time but could do so with effort. The Cameron-Conservatives need a swing larger than the Conservatives have managed before nationally to win the next General Election.

What is not impossible for some to imagine is the Cameron-Conservatives forming a coalition with the the europhile Liberal Dims (in the event of a hung Parliament after the next General Election).

In such a scenario, I would predict that tens of thousands of Conservative Party members - angered at any deal/pact with the pro-EU and leftist Liberal Dims - would defect to UKIP (doubling the size of the UKIP membership - if not more).