Good old Eton to produce such wonderful PM In Europe all Mr Cameron’s work follows a familiar narrative arc. First he devises a demand that he has no hope of realising and then proceeds to shout it out loudly, as if he were an Englishman abroad talking to foreigners who do not understand. Then, when he is forced to veto a fiscal compact that did not even apply to the UK, or when he makes inevitable the appointment of a president he doesn’t want, he pretends that his recalcitrance is a virtue that he meant all along. Out of the failure to gain anything material he makes a display of Eurosceptic strength, threatening to pull Britain out of the EU in a fit of pique. At all points during this confident exhibition of bluster, Mr Cameron shows a characteristic failure to ask the pertinent questions. Senior diplomats are aghast at his tendency to annoy all his putative allies, as well as his natural rivals, by having no particular demands, no specific solutions, just a roster of complaints. European negotiations are a subtle game of give and take, not a ultimatum to take it or leave it.
Posted on: Fri, 27 Jun 2014 07:50:13 +0000
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