What is going on with this Anglo/French Defence Treaty?

Richard North writes with magisterial venom today about the Defence Treaty being signed at Lancaster House.

the great greasy-pole merchant Liam Fox - so ambitious he would sell his mother for a farthing if it bought preferment - has sold us out to the forces of European integration, cosying up to his euroslime master Cameron in the process.

Tell us as if you mean it Richard, (or should I call you Ricard in these moments?), he then goes on to explain how, depsite the blandishment of the craven fools in Government and  their cheerleaders why this is a European Union project, not a bilateral one,

Needless to say, this "new" Combined Joint Expeditionary Force is not new. It is simply a battle group, along the lines agreed in 2004 as the core part of the European Rapid Reaction Force.

Yes it was always part of the plan,

This is a continuation of the Maastricht Treaty agenda, as this briefing note makes clear. Agreed by the Tories under John Major, this set up the parameters for the development of a European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP). The process continued with the Franco-British meeting in Saint-Malo (France) in December 1998. That was when London and Paris agreed to jointly and actively work to make the European Union "able to carry out some security tasks on its own".


During the period 1999-2003, the EU set up relevant political-military structures to assess, decide, plan and execute military operations and now it is "moving ahead" to embark on a "second round". And that is what this is, the "second round" - building the ESDP, planning and organising new military "cooperation" and integration among EU member states. The current move is the Trojan Horse or, as the "colleagues" say, the catalyst.

Over at the Telegraph we have an extraordinary letter defending the decision,

As the French and British governments seek to maintain military capabilities during the toughest spending climate in living memory, it is essential that greater co-operation be on the agenda at today’s summit.

It whiffles on and concludes,

Anglo-French defence cooperation offers an obvious way forward which we cannot afford to ignore. The security of Britain, France and Europe is at stake.

Utterly denying the facts that this is an EU inspired Treaty. and the signatories, it is a  list of the European elite, names that should and will be remembered. In 1940 Cato wrote the famous book "The Guilty Men" then it was about appeasement, today we have a new list, emblazoned in the Telegraph,

Roland Rudd

Chairman, Business for New Europe
Claude Bébéar
President, Institut Montaigne
Sir Richard Branson
Chairman, Virgin Group
Major General Tim Cross (retd)
Sir Richard Dearlove
Head, Secret Intelligence Service 1999-2004
Etienne de Durand
French Institute of International Relations
Charles Grant
Director, Centre for European Reform
Sir John Grant
UK Permanent Representative to the EU 2003-2007
Lord Guthrie of Craigiebank
Chief of the Defence Staff 1997-2001
Professor Stephen Haseler
Director, Global Policy Institute
François Heisbourg
Special adviser, Foundation for Strategic Research
Lord Jay of Ewelme
Former head, Diplomatic Service
Mark Leonard
Director, European Council on Foreign Relations
Karine Lisbonne-de Vergeron
Fellow, Global Policy Institute, London
Peter Luff
Chairman, European Movement
Lord Maclennan of Rogart
Liberal Democrat Cabinet Office spokesman
Lord Marshall of Knightsbridge
Chairman, Nomura International
Dominique Moïsi
Professor, College of Europe and Harvard University
Contre-Amiral Michel Picard
Former head, Force de Frappe
Vice-Amiral Patrice Puy-Montbrun
Sir Mike Rake
Chairman, BT
Lord West of Spithead
First Sea Lord 2002-2006
John Stevens
Chairman, Europachannel
Bruno Tertrais
Foundation for Strategic Research

Elsewhere here may be answer as to why UK Aircraft carriers will carry French planes, they are desperate for a market, according to the FT,

Even more worrying is the continuing dearth of export orders for the Dassault Rafale multi-role combat aircraft.


France has yet to win an export order for the Rafale. It has been trying for a decade without success. Securing a foreign order for this combat aircraft is not just a matter of prestige for the French. After all, Serge Dassault, the veteran controlling shareholder of the eponymous aircraft maker, is also a senator and member of the governing UMP party and owner of Le Figaro, the slavishly pro-Sarkozy newspaper.

But there are more important reasons why Rafale export sales are so crucial. Exports would reduce the overall cost of the programme at the same time as providing funds to help finance new research and technology. Without exports, there is the risk that France would no longer be able to ensure the autonomy of its military aircraft industry, especially when the time eventually comes to develop a replacement for the Rafale.

Last, but not least, failure to export the combat aircraft will put further stress on the country’s already stretched Treasury. Indeed, the French Defence Ministry has decided to order 11 additional Rafales next year earlier than scheduled to ensure that production lines keep running. This will cost the taxpayer an extra €800m ($1.1bn).

It is not for lack of trying on the part of the president that France has so far failed to place an export order for the Rafale.

Who voted for this? Did anybody? Did any man or woman put their cross in a Tory box on election day and imagine that all this would come about? Of course not. Sadly they have only themselves to blame as it is not as if they werwe not warned. The warnings of course were dimissed as scare mongering by UKIP.

Well who is scared now?