A shameful decision by Cameron on Europe

So the Tories have announced the new right of centre grouping in the European Parliament this morning.

It has taken three weeks of negotiation but will compromise 55 MEP's of which the Tories will have the lion's share of 26 and Poland's Law & Justice will have 15

The rest,a rag tangled mob and called the Prague grouping they declare that they are

CONSCIOUS OF THE URGENT NEED TO REFORM THE EU ON THE BASIS OF EUROREALISM, OPENNESS, ACCOUNTABILITY AND DEMOCRACY, IN A WAY THAT RESPECTS THE SOVEREIGNTY OF OUR NATIONS AND CONCENTRATES ON ECONOMIC RECOVERY, GROWTH AND COMPETITIVENESS,

If you want clarification of some of their partners,read Anthony Painter's post here.

I can't help feeling though that David Cameron has made a massive mistake by effectively alienating himself from the centre right coalition in Brussels, thus marginalising his MEP's from the political process.

It sends a clear message to Europe of what will happen if the Tories win the next election.The country will be isolated from Europe and that is a bad thing

Why we must stay within the European framework

Phil Jones,Director and Vice-President of Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce had coffee with an MEP whom he doesn't name but who convinced Phil of the need to stay at the heart of Europe

1) That the EU parliament is inextricably linked to our future and we must be in it to win it.

2) Moving away from the EU in an increasingly globalised world is not a good thing to do, regardless of what political party you vote for (with some exceptions obviously).

3) That human beings run the parliament and a hardcore of around 50% of the longstanding MEP's do the bulk of the real work.

4) That any backlash by voters against the UK government in the EU elections isn't a good thing, that's what the general election is for.

5) That not all politicians are corrupt expense swindling chancers.

Gordon is made to cringe in Strasborg

It is not very often that someone gets to confront the Prime Minister in this way.

MEP Daniel Hannan takes Gordon to task over his management of the economy,the imagery to boats gouing into squalls is brilliant