I reported on the latest crisis to hit David Cameron's new European grouping a href="http://peterblack.blogspot.com/2009/07/more-trouble-for-tories.html" target="_blank"a few days ago/a when Edward McMillan-Scott, who is the longest serving Tory MEP had the whip removed for standing against Michal Kaminski, an MEP from the party’s new Polish allies, in a vote for vice-presidents of the Parliament.br /br /a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/conservative/5858497/Feud-grips-new-Tory-Euro-grouping.html" target="_blank"Saturday's Daily Telegraph reports/a that Mr. Kaminski has taken exception to accusations by Mr. McMillan-Scott that he might be a racist. Under the heading em'Feud grips new Tory Euro grouping'/em they say that leader of the right wing European has threatened legal action against Mr. McMillan-Scott. For his part the now expelled Tory MEP does not give the grouping much chance of success:br /br /emHe said he would not be surprised if Mr Kami?ski and the Polish Law and Justice Party walked out on the Conservatives, and when did the new grouping would "dissolve".br /br /Mr McMillan-Scott had the whip withdrawn last week for standing against Mr Kami?ski, who was the group's official candidate, for the post of European Parliament vice president - and beating him.br /br /In his first interview since his expulsion, Mr McMillan-Scott insisted he only stood against Mr Kami?ski because of the Pole's extremist "homophobic and racist" views. /embr /br /emHe said he repeatedly warned Mr Cameron not to join forces with the Law and Justice Party because of its "distasteful" beliefs./embr /br /a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/jul/19/rabbi-tories-polish-mep" target="_blank"Yesterday's Observer/a has a new twist. They reported that one of the most respected figures in the British Jewish community has called on David Cameron to cut all links with the Polish MEP because of his attitude towards a massacre of 1,600 Jews in the north-west Polish town of Jedwabne during the Second World War.br /br /Rabbi Barry Marcus, of the Central Synagogue in London said that he had known for some time that Kaminski, who was Jedwabne's local MP, was involved in 2001 in a campaign to oppose a national apology for the massacre on its 60th anniversary in July 2001.br /br /The rabbi said: em"There needs to be some form of statement [from the Conservatives] of disassociation and condemnation. Otherwise they will appear to be condoning these views. Even if one person like this is in power in a democratic process, that is worrying. It is not building bridges. We want to build bridges."/embr /br /If I were a gambling man I might consider placing a bet on how long Cameron's new European grouping can last. It certainly does not look very durable.div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8266684-8482332320917973336?l=peterblack.blogspot.com'//div
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
A precarious settlement
I reported on the latest crisis to hit David Cameron's new European grouping a href="http://peterblack.blogspot.com/2009/07/more-trouble-for-tories.html" target="_blank"a few days ago/a when Edward McMillan-Scott, who is the longest serving Tory MEP had the whip removed for standing against Michal Kaminski, an MEP from the party’s new Polish allies, in a vote for vice-presidents of the Parliament.br /br /a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/conservative/5858497/Feud-grips-new-Tory-Euro-grouping.html" target="_blank"Saturday's Daily Telegraph reports/a that Mr. Kaminski has taken exception to accusations by Mr. McMillan-Scott that he might be a racist. Under the heading em'Feud grips new Tory Euro grouping'/em they say that leader of the right wing European has threatened legal action against Mr. McMillan-Scott. For his part the now expelled Tory MEP does not give the grouping much chance of success:br /br /emHe said he would not be surprised if Mr Kami?ski and the Polish Law and Justice Party walked out on the Conservatives, and when did the new grouping would "dissolve".br /br /Mr McMillan-Scott had the whip withdrawn last week for standing against Mr Kami?ski, who was the group's official candidate, for the post of European Parliament vice president - and beating him.br /br /In his first interview since his expulsion, Mr McMillan-Scott insisted he only stood against Mr Kami?ski because of the Pole's extremist "homophobic and racist" views. /embr /br /emHe said he repeatedly warned Mr Cameron not to join forces with the Law and Justice Party because of its "distasteful" beliefs./embr /br /a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/jul/19/rabbi-tories-polish-mep" target="_blank"Yesterday's Observer/a has a new twist. They reported that one of the most respected figures in the British Jewish community has called on David Cameron to cut all links with the Polish MEP because of his attitude towards a massacre of 1,600 Jews in the north-west Polish town of Jedwabne during the Second World War.br /br /Rabbi Barry Marcus, of the Central Synagogue in London said that he had known for some time that Kaminski, who was Jedwabne's local MP, was involved in 2001 in a campaign to oppose a national apology for the massacre on its 60th anniversary in July 2001.br /br /The rabbi said: em"There needs to be some form of statement [from the Conservatives] of disassociation and condemnation. Otherwise they will appear to be condoning these views. Even if one person like this is in power in a democratic process, that is worrying. It is not building bridges. We want to build bridges."/embr /br /If I were a gambling man I might consider placing a bet on how long Cameron's new European grouping can last. It certainly does not look very durable.div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8266684-8482332320917973336?l=peterblack.blogspot.com'//div
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