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The old joke about "Fog in the Channel. Europe cut off" has to be revised for current British politics. Europe’s still there. Fifteen million of us visit it every year and two hundred thousand of us buy second or third homes there. But the monster in Brussels which arrogated Europe’s name, the European Union, has sunk beneath the waves. So far as British politics is concerned it’s the organisation which durst not speak its name.
The mood is symbolised by new men. Blair's hapless Ministers for Europe were Euro-enthusiastic to the point of insanity. They took every opportunity to harangue the Brits for our curious inability to see the virtues of the Shining City across the Channel. Indeed, as ministers they'd nothing else to do. But now Brown calls the shots. He's cooler and more rational. His man, Douglas Alexander, is Euro-agnostic and recognises folly when he sees it, while Brown and Straw, once active Euro-sceptics, are beginning to talk to their old friends. Which contrast strikingly with Tony's vacuous enthusiasm. When he takes over Gordon won't change policy much. But he won't talk the same rubbish.
We don't even talk about the EU. The "pause for reflection" hasn't produced any. We don't have any idea what kind of Europe we want but are beginning to wonder if we want it at all. We get occasional reports from Council meetings which Ministers always sum up as "Britain Dix Points. Rest of Europe Nul Points", but Government has gone so quiet on the issue that I'm occasionally suspicious that they're going along with the plot to smuggle the Constitution in by the back door which Daniel Hannan has described. The Foreign Office may be. But Gordon's not that daft.
We still have regular six monthly Euro-Debates but fewer and fewer turn up. The two tribes of phobes and philes who've long traded incomprehension with each other in these ritual mud-wrestles are much fewer in number today. Indeed they're regarded as antediluvian relics by new members who hardly give Europe a thought.
The Tories are crawling away from scepticism but prefer to keep quiet about it so as not to upset their ageing antis and the entire Party outside. They rarely criticise the EU to avoid being accused of wanting to come out. As for Labour, the EU lost its chance when it didn't respond to Tony. They don't seem to like us much. The whole thing is the source of only bad news: higher taxes, more immigrants, fewer grants and endless regulations for which Labour gets the blame. So why bother? Ministers keep quiet and the vacuous grin which Labour MPs once emitted at its very mention has been replaced by a "Watch This Space" sign as they wait for a signal from on high. We're bemused and no-one unbemuses us. Except the Euro MPs who're as well regarded and influential as Scientologists.
Most amazing of all, the Liberal Democrats, once so Euro-enthusiastic their central – indeed only – policy was "My Europe Right or Wrong" have been heard to criticise it if they say anything at all. Labour's Mr Europe, Denis MacShane, embraces Euro-sceptics, pointing out that with the Constitution dead and the Euro sick, there's now nothing between them. His MacShaneless praise of the EU has dried up. He doesn't yet answer the question the public are asking: "What do we get out of it?", but silence may be his answer.
With Euro-enthusiasm and scepticism both dying on their feet, economics takes over. We Brits aren't doing as well as Gordon Brown claims. Growth is modest and unemployment has stopped falling. Yet we're doing manifestly better than France, Italy and Germany who've locked themselves in a monetarist trap by their adherence to the euro. Their governments preach "reform" which translates into English as spending, job security and benefit cuts. This leads to riots in France and union action in Germany but the euro stops them taking the only path to growth: boosting demand with lower interest rates and a competitive currency.
John Major was forced out of this trap and Britain is still benefiting. But it's absolutely forbidden to France, Italy and Germany. So they must swelter on with the deflation their bankers and governments prescribe, desperately attempting the impossible task of making themselves competitive by cutting spending and social security. It won't work but governments which can't (or won't) manage demand must punish the people and as long as that goes on ever closer misery is a dead issue here, and probably there too. That's nice for an old Euro-sceptic like me. The Euro-enthusiasts can't blame it on us and our government can't tell us how much better off we'd be with the Constitution and the euro. Mustn't gloat, of course. But it makes a nice change.
Article for The Sprout |
