The Lib Dems warn the Tories over Europe

The Lib Dems have just had a brief Q&A on foreign affairs. Paddy Ashdown and defence minister Nick Harvey gave staunch their support to the Afghan Mission, but confessed to having misgivings. Ashdown described the Bush administration’s strategy as an “absolute model of how not to intervene, both militarily and politically”. This failure, Ashdown said, ensured that a “victor’s peace” is now beyond NATO’s grasp. Harvey admitted that NATO’s political progress in Afghanistan remained “very slow” despite ISAF’s recent military success; this is scarcely surprising given the litany of bombings and assassinations over the course of the summer.

The debate touched on the need to forge new trade relationships and Britain’s role as an “aid super power”. The bulk of the discussion, however, was dominated by the coalition’s stance on the European Union. The panellists took Danny Alexander’s line, arguing that the calls to repatriate power from Brussels came from “marginal interests” on the Tory backbenches.  The Lib Dem MP for Cheltenham, Martin Horwood, referred to the competing cabals that have formed around Eurosceptic MPs like Douglas Carswell, Bill Cash and George Eustice and dubbed their bickering as the “political equivalent of anti-social behaviour”.

If the strategy is to divide the Tories over Europe, then it’s very astute. The broad Eurosceptic cause has often been hampered by its own indiscipline and incoherence. And it continues to be so. Those Conservative MPs who float between the various backbench factions despair of the lack of clear direction, a malaise that George Eustice apparently hopes to cure with his new group.

Lord Ashdown was applauded when he said the Lib Dems must ensure that these various Tory interests remain “irrelevant”. The upshot from this conference is that the Lib Dems are prepared to fight the Conservatives over Europe – a fact that, I suspect, will not have escaped the attention of scheming Ed Balls. It will be interesting to see what Labour have to say on the subject at their conference next week.