Airstrip One

Tories have principles - shock

Some good news, the Tories in Brussels are splitting. It seems that Duncan Smith has insisted that the Center Right grouping does not use any of the Tories money for pro Euro literature, and they've refused. It looks like the Tories are going to leave the Center Right grouping. This will put some of the Tory MEPs in a quandry, as their committee posts will be gone. So a few of the more pro-European members may stay with the Center Right and so split with the Tories. The Times says (no doubt this is an exageration) that this could be as much as a third of the Tory delegation will stay with the Center Right. This gives Eurosceptics two opportunities. Firstly they should demand that the Tories purge all those MEPs who stay in the Center Right group when the Tories leave. Secondly they can suggest at every opportunity that any selection of a pro-European will risk a defection two years down the line (as was the case with Bill Newton Dunn)