On Tuesday, retiring Conservative MEP Christopher Beazley announced he was seeking full membership of the federalist European Peoples' Party group in Brussels for his final couple of months there. It was a gesture of his opposition to the recent confirmation that David Cameron's long-standing pledge that the Conservatives will leave the group will become a reality after June's European elections.
Today, a second retiring europhile Tory MEP, Caroline Jackson, has spoken out against the move, and threatens to quit the Conservative Party altogether.
The South West MEP has told The Parliament magazine:
"Pulling out of the EPP was ridiculous, is a serious mistake and I am minded to leave the party... It is a serious mistake and will leave the UK even more semi-detached
from the rest of Europe. The danger is that it will leave both the
Tories and Britain isolated in Europe and the decision is simply not in
the interests of either our party or the country."
If she did leave the party, she would be following the lead set by her husband, Robert Jackson, who quit the Conservative Party in 2005 for his final few months as MP for Wantage, opting to take the Labour whip instead.
Jonathan Isaby
