The EU and the Tories

A thoughtful piece by Martin Kettle in The Guardian is linked from here. The conclusion is as follows: Earlier in the afternoon, the conference heard - on video rather than in person - from Nicolas Sarkozy, the probable rightwing candidate for the French presidency in 2007 (and a man whom Labour, almost unbelievably, has been courting as assiduously as the Cameron Tories have done). Sarkozy has quietly refused to come to Bournemouth this week because of the Tory refusal to cooperate with the French Gaullists in the EPP in the European parliament. But Sarko was at his most beguiling in his message. The right must unite to stop the left in Europe, he said. Our parties should work together on immigration and economic reform. "Nous avons besoin de vous en Europe," he promised. It was an offer that most people in this party would prefer to refuse - but Hague's speech showed that, in their own halting and guarded way, the Tories are in fact now re-engaged on Europe. And all without a single shot fired in anger too.