By Roger Helmer MEP.
I yield to no one in my respect for Lord Tebbit. In the Tory pantheon, I place him just a little behind Margaret Thatcher. I was hugely grateful some years back when he wrote a foreword for my first book, "Straight Talking on Europe".
So I was particularly disappointed when he issued his recent advice to voters that they should show their disgust at the Westminster expenses scandal by eschewing the major parties in the up-coming euro-elections, and vote for minor parties instead. He was careful to exclude the odious BNP, but many commentators thought that he stopped just short of endorsing UKIP.
Let me declare an interest: as an MEP, I was naturally disappointed that he should ask Conservative voters to take out their justified anger on euro-MPs, when their concern was mainly with Westminster MPs. It seems an affront to natural justice that we should carry the can, particularly as Conservative MEPs went through a detailed and rigorous process, only a few months ago, of creating the most thorough and transparent declaration of expenses ever seen in the European parliament. It is all there on our web-site. I feel that we (and David Cameron, who drove the process) deserve at least half a cheer for that, rather than a call to boycott the Party on June 4th.
But leaving aside an MEP's special pleading, it seems a bit curious that voters should be asked to show their anger at the Westminster scandal by voting for a party whose record is no better and arguably worse. In 2004, UKIP astonished the political establishment by gaining a remarkable 12 MEPs out of the UK's 78. What has happened since? No fewer than four -- fully a third of them -- have left UKIP, or been expelled. Ashley Mote went to jail for fraud (I understand he is planning to appeal). Tom Wise is facing charges of fraud in relation to his parliamentary staff expenses, and may receive a custodial sentence. Robert Kilroy Silk (elected in my own East Midlands region) sought the leadership of UKIP, failed, left in a huff, created a new party, "Veritas", which crashed and burned, and has now retreated to his villa in Spain, while still claiming his salary and expenses. He is seen rarely in Strasbourg, and apparently not at all in the region he is paid to represent. Occasionally he comes out of the woodwork to table hundreds of Written Questions (some of them highly eccentric) to the Commission.
By contrast Conservative MEPs have been doing a solid job of scrutinising EU legislation and resisting its worst excesses.
Recent polling on voting intentions for the euro-elections on June 4th thankfully shows a low figure for the BNP, at around 4%. If this proves to be the case across the country, they should get no MEPs at all (though we have to reckon with under-reporting by respondents, ashamed of the BNP's associations). But UKIP is coming in at a much higher figure, and there can be little doubt that they will elect a significant number of MEPs.
We know that many good Conservatives, who would never dream of voting for any other party in a General or local election, nevertheless feel free to vote for UKIP in the euros, arguing that UKIP's policy better reflects their own views, and that they want to "send a message" to Conservative HQ. Let me say two things to those Conservatives.
Firstly, I well understand the visceral attraction of a single-issue party with a clear message: "Let's get out of the EU". But in the end, only a government in Westminster will make the changes we want, and that can only be a Conservative government. Many will feel -- as I feel -- that we should like the party to go even further than its present position on the EU, but let's not forget what the party is already offering -- and if elected will be able to deliver. Relentless opposition to the EU Constitution, and a campaign for a referendum. A one-word policy on Britain joining the euro: "Never". Repatriation of some powers from Brussels, especially in the employment and social affairs area. We may want more, but let's bank what's on offer first. A self-indulgent vote for UKIP will make it just a little more difficult for the Conservative Party to deliver on these objectives -- and could well let federalist Labour or Lib-Dem MEPs slip through the middle.
Secondly, if you want to send a message on expenses, don't vote for a Party that arguably has an even worse record for probity. Recognise the clear lead that Cameron has given on the expenses issue, and give him, and the Party, credit for it.
