Stephens' blind spot about Europe

Yes, it's this blog's friend Philip Stephens again in the Financial Times. He interprets Cameron's policy on the EU (if "policy" is the right word) in terms of positioning the Conservatives' political image.

An obsessive hostility to the European Union, Mr Cameron seemed to have understood, positioned the Tories as allies of Ukip's stripy-blazered xenophobes.

Indeed, as Stephens says, "Mr Cameron has said nothing much about Europe since becoming leader six months ago".

Stephens is content with this (though he does note that foreign policy is not Mr Cameron's strong suit). "Instead of making ... promises to be nasty to foreigners", he writes, in a travesty of UKIP's position, "... his pitch has been to the socially concerned middle classes, to women, to the green vote, and, most recently, to public servants". One can criticise the political strategy, but at least the Conservatives have one and are executing it.

Stephens rehashes the arguments about withdrawing from the EPP - he thinks it would be a mistake, mainly because

The prospect of a European superstate exists now only in the recurring nightmares of the europhobes. The task for serious European politicians during the next five or 10 years will be to forge a new concordat between nation states, the Union and globalisation.

This is to swallow the Tory sticking-plaster "policy" wholesale. Where is the credible body of politicians on mainland Europe calling for the EU to embrace globalisation, curb the power of the European Court of Justice, and free business from expensive measures such as the Working Time Directive, or the Directive on Restriction on Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment?

This is not even the old honest British delusion that "they" will come round to our way of thinking. It is wilful refusal to acknowledge facts because they are inconvenient for his party. Stephens headlines his piece "Cameron's blind spot about Europe". Rather, Cameron is turning a blind eye to the EU.