I am delighted with David Cameron's new European policy. A Sovereignty Act making British law supreme is vital. A commitment to ignore the ratchet clause and subject every new power grab to a referendum is wonderful. Renegotiation of the various areas where Lisbon has gone too far is very important. I take the Ben Brogan view of this, not the Tim Montgomerie one.
That said, our party has always been a broad tent and others disagree. The resignation of Dan Hannan from the European front bench is a pity. When Dan joined Twitter, I saw leftwingers warning each other of the dangers of 'Hannanism'. He's a major figure, pretty young to have his own "--ism". For some time now, not least in his book "The Plan", Dan has concentrated on the idea of direct democracy - local devolution of power and referendums not just on Europe, but on many measures. In this, as in his ideas on the NHS, I disagree with him. I think direct democracy is paralyzing, and referendums should only be used on measures of supreme constitutional importance. But that's not the point.
The point is, as Labour are so desperate to cry "Tory splits", that this is how a principled resignation is done. Since Dan believes we must have a post-Lisbon referendum (whereas I am quite content with a manifesto commitment) he has resigned from the European front bench. In his resignation, Dan goes out of his way to defend David Cameron's full-throttle fight to prevent the Lisbon treaty being ratified. He states that he will not be talking to the press any further. And, crucially, in his Telegraph column today, he states that this week he will be in Sussex, campaigning hard for a David Cameron win at the general election.
I'm sorry that Dan felt the need to resign. But I respect immensely the sobriety and loyalty with which he has done so. He knows that we need to see David Cameron in number 10. He is fighting for a Conservative government, just as hard as I am. I hope that a forthcoming Sovereignty Act and victories around the negotiation table (and remember, the accession protocol was mentioned as a bargaining chip) will give him some comfort. In the meantime, Dan Hannan is giving no comfort to the enemy, whether Labour or UKIP. Some posters on ConHome could learn a lot from him.