Boris: give us a referendum on Europe

yank

Apropos to nothing, this Boris guy and Cameron make me reminiscent of the Martin Sheen character in Apocalypse Now.

"Every day I sit here in the besplendored bliss of Parliament, I grow weaker, and every day Boris is squatting out there in the bush, in the wilds of Londonistan, he grows stronger."

"No wonder Kurtz Boris put a weed up Command's ass. The war was being run by a bunch of four star clowns who were gonna end up giving the whole circus away."

Vulture

As I have said on the CH Wall, Bozza is the first senior Tory with the guts to defy Dave's outrageous denial of democracy over Lisbon in favour of a referendum on AV that no-one wants to please his chum Nick.

This is the first straw in a wind of change. Boris knows that most Tories want such a referendum and only Dave's appeasing clique do not. Its all part of the Mayor's campaign to replace Dave - and more power to
him.

Joseph alan jones

And about time,and quite right too. Good on Yer Boris. Too much wet around here!

John Bracewell

Cameron has said he wants to stay in the EU and change it from the inside. Good luck with that, the only change the EU allows is ever increasing union of the member countries, politically and economically. Maybe that is what he wants. I have only ever heard Cameron state that he wants to stay in the EU, he never gives reasons for that, he seems scared of opening up a discussion in case it offends the LibDems. An EU referendum would be money better spent than one on the AV voting system which even the LibDem leader said was a grubby little system.

IM

He makes some good points, but I do wish he'd show the same vigour in sorting out things for which he is currently responsible. Transport for London and, more specifically, London Underground come to mind...

Andrew SW18

I pay Bozo's wages, and I expect him to sort out TfL and the mess that passes for London's infrastructure, not idle away his time stroking frothing Europhobes with fatuous articles in the Barclaygraph.

Livingstone was another political hack that treated the Mayor's office as little more than a highly-paid platform for national posturing.

London deserves better value for our money than tenth-rate, unamusing "humourous" columnism. Let him finance his delusional campaign to be Prime Minister entirely from your proprietors' loose change.

Victor Southern

Boris, whom I like immensely, has about the same chance of becoming Prime Minister as does Dennis Skinner.

The story about his ambitions is claptrap.

Commentator

To be called "delusional" by the bien pensants of SW18 is very much a case of a pot calling a kettle black.....although isn't that old saying now "waysist"?

Woody

Boris needs to get back in his box - now is not the time to start fanning these particular flames again.
David Cameron has taken over the entire FOC and MOD and being hugely impressive in my view. There is no-one to match him in the entire Conservative Party and all those who covet his crown should just shut up.

Fergus Pickering

Oh don't be silly, Andrew. How long do you suppose it takes Boris to write an article? A couple of hours tops.

M@tth3w

Yes! At last, someone has heard what the country wants.

We don't want a referendum on some silly voting system designed to keep Labour in office, we want a vote on something that costs around £10billion a year.

What are they so afraid of?

denis cooper

Oh come on, Boris Johnson is just a pretend eurosceptic, one of many such in our political class but especially in the pretend patriotic Tory party.

He plays to his audience for his own purposes: "Good old Boris!" they think, "He's damn right in what he says about needing a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, and probably in what he says about AV as well."

I recall a Democracy Movement public meeting, supposedly a debate, about the euro. It was in Henley, and there was the local Tory MP Boris Johnson and there was the then Europe Minister Keith Vaz, and at the end of it genuine opponents of the euro agreed that in reality it was difficult to put a fag paper between the two of them.

Johnson knows that Cameron made his abject submission to the EU and ruled out a retrospective referendum on the Lisbon Treaty on November 4th 2009, and he knows that there'd be no chance of Cameron reversing that decision now even if he wasn't in a coalition with the LibDems, but it's easy to stick a throwaway line on the end of an article to sucker gullible Tory readers.

Simon Stephenson

The Telegraph seems to be full of EU-goodies today, because Daniel Hannan has posted this blog:-

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/danielhannan/100077859/david-cameron-i-dont-believe-an-inout-referendum-is-right-because-i-dont-believe-that-leaving-the-european-union-would-be-in-britains-interests/

As Mr Hannan says, it's a little difficult to reconcile this statement of Mr Cameron's with his assertion in 2009 that "We are the only major party to have consistently said that it is up to the British people to decide on our future in Europe."

Unless, of course, we recognise this as top-level politician-speak, in that what he says is perfectly true - the Conservatives are the only major party to have consistently said this - but also that he conveniently fails to mention, despite having said this, that the Conservatives have never actually meant it.

charles hercock

As usual Boris is spot on
He guages the mood and drags us forward
Dave could learn a thing or two

Liz Brown

Boris is not alone in wanting a Referendum but Cameron, to my total disgust ( and that of thousands if not millions of others) has ruled this out.
This is a total betrayal of the Electorate. We are not stupid, we know that Europe will never be reformed, not whilst so many people have their snouts in the trough and we also know that we cannot afford our continued membership.
We are told outright lies about the trade that we do with Europe but we also know that the figures are "fixed" as anything that passes through Rotterdam en route to other countries is portrayed as "trading with Europe.
The whole construct has been and will continue to be a lie almost as big as that foisted on us by the AGW lot and just as costly

DZ

Don't analyse to excess. Nail Boris' colours to the mast for him. Force him to keep his word. Remind him, frequently.

Commentator

Does anyone know why Iain Martin is no longer blogging at the WSJ? Has Downing Street leaned on Murdoch to silence him?

RKing

Can we expect to see rioting in Trafalgar Square in order to restore democracy in GB?

We needs some slogans..........

EU DICTATORS OUT! OUT! OUT!

From Bad to Warsi

Liz Brown - Wasn't a referendum on the EU in Dave The Rave's manifesto?

Between Dave The Rave and Screaming Lord Sutch and the Monster Raving Loony Party, I can only regret that Screaming Lord Sutch is no longer with us.

Verity

A new week's Wall and only 10 comments posted by 6:30 on a Monday evening?

How likely is that?

TGF UKIP

Denis Cooper is bang on. Johnson is nowt more than another politically correct, ultra green, AGW preaching, One Continent, OE London toff. The other side of the same coin as Cameron.

Johnson or Livingstone, the polyglot, multicultural hellhole gets what it deserves.

Neil Turner

Another tank on Dave's lawn

Go Boris

strapworld

I take it that the opinionated Victor Southern knows Boris personally. To write what he has suggests that.

If it is a personal view he should say so.

Boris could well become Prime Minister. He has a long life ahead of him and he is far more attuned to what the majority of Conservatives want.

Perry

Boris speaks.

People listen.

That is sufficient - for now.

Boudicca

Woody
February 28th, 2011 5:34pm

Cameron hugely impressive! He's been swanning around the Middle East with a bunch of arms manufacturers in tow, preaching Democracy whilst at the same time announcing on Al Jazeera that "there won't be an IN/OUT Referendum on the EU because he believes the PEOPLE of Britain would vote OUT and in his opinion that would be a bad thing."

You are easily impressed. I call it Dictatorship - which is what the people of the Middle East are fighting against.

Boris is right. The country doesn't want and can't afford a Referendum on AV just to keep the weakling Clegg onside. What we DO want is a proper Conservative Party; one which puts the interests of the UK first and one that isn't afraid of Democracy.

If Boris becomes Conservative Leader, I just might return to the fold. Cameron stays in with his warped idea of Democracy and I will be voting UKIP again. Who cares if its Cameron's CONservatives, the FibDims or Labour at the next GE ... until we get a Referendum on the EU the country will be governed by the EU ........ without our permission.

Nicholas

I've always thought Boris' chaos is an act. Behind the flummaxed, Frankie Howerd mask is a shrewd operator who is not nearly so clever as he thinks he is. Wamba the Fool and Red Ken - what a choice for Londoners. Both as mad as a box of frogs, one lazy and the other perverse.

But looking at its denizens does London deserve better? Probably not.

Mr L

It is clear that D Cameron couldn't do anything about the EU, even if he wanted to (which is not clear), because of the Coalition. But somebody should ask the Lib Dems why they think the EU SSR is such a good idea. I thought they were supposed to be in favour of liberty, self-determination for communities, etc. Where does the EU fit in?

Cynic

I'd like a referendum on Lisbon (although it would be better to have an in/out choice on the EU), but how does Boris reconcile that with his support for Turkey joining? Much as I like Boris (I find him hugely entertaining) I fear this is just a pretence of being in touch with the man on the Clapham omnibus.

Steve Tierney

Maybe he could be leader and maybe he couldn't. We'll probably never know.

But this is why I love Boris.

He's only saying what 75% of the grass roots are saying. Small state. Low taxes. Better Off Out.

2trueblue

Boris is very entertaining, but it takes a bit more joined up thinking to sort out the mess Liebore left us with. Everythiing Liebore did was on borrowed money and the public thought it was gpod for them as well and now we are discovering that it all has to be paid back. Reality is just that.

Clear Memories

There is little or no point in having a referendum on the EU/Lisbon treaty - the answer is already known. Polls consistently show more than 80% want out.

Wasting a huge sum on a referendum is only worth it if we can be guaranteed the result will bind the government of the day to comply.

Let them have their AV - its already given us 2 BNP MEPs and the BNP are the only party that guarantee to take us out of the EU. (That should guarantee the NO campaign win)

UKIP, the BBC's tame anti-EU party can be trusted about as far as Cameron.

Tony_E

Boris is fanning the flames, for sure. But with a reason maybe?

In May, we are to have a dodgy referendum on AV, a poor system which is nothing but a stalking horse for PR (and the end of one party government in the UK)- something which will benefit our masters in Brussels no end. Once the link to history of FPTP is gone, moves will start almost immediately to convince the public they have backed a pup and that only PR will deliver democracy.

However - if FPTP remains and the people don't fall for it, then the LibDems might very well disintigrate, some crossing the floor to Labour, some sitting as independents, possibly others joining the government.

That will be the moment for Cameron to call the EU's bluff and push for renegotiation publicly. If he can't get it, he can say that he has cast off the shackles of Lib Dem Europhilia and go to the people with either a referendum, or a promise to withdraw from the EU if re-elected in a General Election.

Is Boris an outrider or rival? In the long term probably both, but I don't think the EU has been kicked that deep into the long grass that we won't see it emerge again in this parliament as a dividing line.