Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Hesketh shows the way forward

There is a significant amount of chatter out there about the announcement this morning of the defection of Lord Hesketh.

Somwething that hasn't been highlighted was his involvement as Chief whip in the Lords during the passage of the Maastricht Treaty. This has been cited by a number of Tory activists as proof that his position in supporting UKIP is questionable.

To me it shows something else entirely. This is a man who was intimately involved in the machinations during that period and now feels strongly that what he was involved with was going in the wrong direction.

Rather than use this as a stick to beat hinm and UKIP with maybe it should be looked at in a somewhat different way.

Look at it this way. He has had the honour and courage to face up to the reality that Britain's involvement in the EU. A majority of the Tory party feels the same way he has been feeling about how this country's relationship with teh EU has evolved.

Today he comes clean and can look himself in the mirror, how about the rest of them?

3 comments:

The English Painter said...

Come come, I was staying in Belgium (1991) with a lawyer who was working on the Maastricht Treaty.
We had many a long conversation about it all before he went off to help Hurd with the 'deed'.
EVERYBODY knew what it was all about.

Gawain Towler said...

I don't say he didn't know what he was doing then, just that he has thought better of it.

He was new in the job, and felt beholden to Major who had given him that job.

Today he has made it clear where he stands, and for that I for one am grateful.

The English Painter said...

Seems to have an awfully long time for the penny to drop…

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