Just a couple of months before retiring from Brussels, East of England MEP Christopher Beazley has announced that he is taking full - rather than just associate - membership of the federalist European Peoples' Party (with which the Conservaitve Party is to break all ties after June's elections to the European Parliament).
He is not, however, resigning the Conservative whip, which I understand he was contemplating, but was talked out of doing.
Mr Beazley has long been regarded as the most enthusiastic inegrationist within the Conservative group, having been a supporter of the Lisbon Treaty. As such, he has been on "defection watch" for some time, as pointed out by Tim when he failed to join all other Tory MEPs in declaring details of his expenses.
His decision has been prompted by the confirmation that David Cameron is to take Conservative MEPs out of the EPP - a decision he heavily criticised on a recent edition of Newsnight.
This morning Mr Beazley has told the East Anglian Daily Times:
"This is the only policy with which I disagree with Mr Cameron. However, I cannot watch and say nothing while the Tories walk away from their allies, friends and colleagues in Europe. There is a Conservative pro-European argument and it has to be discussed, not smothered by anti-European hysteria in the party.
"I am terribly sad but I cannot watch my country head for the rocks, which it will do if Cameron becomes Prime Minister and has no allies in the major governments of the European Union."
Mr Beazley gets his minor moment in the limelight today, but he will soon be forgotten about. This gesture has a desperate last throw of the dice feel to it akin to MP Robert Jackson's defection to Labour just a few months before retiring from the Commons in 2005.
What he says about having no allies in major Right-of-Centre EU governments is, of course, abject nonsense. David Cameron already regularly has productive meetings with the likes of Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel, and even set up working groups with both of their parties to discuss policy in areas of mutual interest.
Jonathan Isaby
