Tory allies in Polish Law and Justice Party set for split

By Jonathan Isaby

There has been considerable turmoil in Poland's Law and Justice (PiS) Party since Jarosław Kaczyński narrowly failed to win the Presidential election caused by the death of his brother, Lech, earlier in the year.

At the beginning of the month, Kaczyński expelled two MPs from the liberal wing of his party - Joanna Kluzik-Rostkowska and Elżbieta Jakubiak - after they criticised him for taking a more hardline political attitude since the election.

It then emerged earlier this week that several Law and Justice MEPs - including Michał Kamiński (pictured above), the leader of the pan-European ECR group in which Conservative MEPs sit, were also minded to leave the party, citing concern at the direction in which Kaczyński is taking it.

The Warsaw Business Journal reported:

In an emotional television interview on TVN24, Michał Kamiński, the former spokesman for late President Lech Kaczyński, revealed that he had received a telephone call from a “member of PiS’s leadership” telling him that he could avoid Ms Kluzik-Rostkowska’s fate if he revealed what he had discussed in a meeting with the PiS expellees.

“I will not snitch on my friends, I will not be an informant,” Mr Kamiński said, speaking directly to the camera. He added that he also expected to be thrown out of PiS in the near future.

Brussels' Parliament magazine then reported that Kamiński, along with three MEP colleagues, Adam Bielan, Pawel Kowal and Marek Migalski, are launching their own "alliance", seemingly separating from the Law and Justice Party.

Today the Daily Telegraph picks up the story, quoting Kamiński as confirming:

"Radicals are taking over the party... I cannot accept that my party is being taken over by the far-Right, and being dominated by the far-Right. I don't like the direction Law and Justice is going so I'm going my own way now."

The Telegraph is trying to link this to the election of a new Conservative group leader next week (covered on ConHome here yesterday), although it surely ought to be an irrelevance. The bottom line is that the membership of the group in Brussels is the same as when the ECR group was formed and that which party those individuals are members of is a domestic Polish matter. Such splits and splinters are not so uncommon in relatively young democracies.

In any case, it is perfectly in order for a group in the European Parliament to include individuals from different parties from the same country, even if there is a permanent split in Law and Justice and/or the formation of a new party.

Bronislaw Komorowski beats Jaroslaw Kaczynski to Polish presidency

Investors, reports the Wall Street Journal, are likely to welcome the result. The government of Donald Tusk will have a member of its own party as Poland's President, ending a period of 'cohabitation'.

Mr Komorowski is sympathetic to Mr Tusk's agenda of budget cuts, deregulation and privatisation. Polish politics is divided into two conservative parties. The more socially conservative, nationalistic and rural party of Kaczynski and the more market-orientated, pro-EU party of Tusk - the Civic Platform.

Polish President, ally of David Cameron, feared dead in plane crash

"President Lech Kaczynski was travelling with his wife from Warsaw to Smolensk airport, 220 miles southwest of Moscow," according to The Telegraph.

The Law and Justice Party of Mr Kaczynski are the allies of Tory MEPs in the European Parliament.

10am: William Hague has Tweeted:

According to the BBC News the plane was full, carrying 125 people. It is feared that none have survived the crash.

Tim Montgomerie

11.30am Commenting on the death this morning of President Kaczynski, his wife, and many Polish officials and dignitaries, Timothy Kirkhope MEP, Deputy Chairman and Jan Zahradil MEP, Vice-President of the European Conservatives and Reformists group in the European Parliament said:

"We are deeply shocked and saddened to hear of this tragic loss. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of President Kaczynski and those onboard the plane, and to the Polish people who mourn the loss of so many public servants and dignitaries. The Polish people have lost a great man who played a pivotal role in the nation's history, helping to bring an end to the dark days of Communism. He played a major part in the post-Communist reconstruction of democracy and freedom in Poland. While we mourn his loss, we also celebrate his remarkable achievements during a lifetime of service to his nation."

Noon: From Dan Hannan MEP's blog;

"The reports in Britain will no doubt describe President Kaczyński as “a controversial figure” (the BBC has already started). Leftists resented him for pursuing a policy of lustration: that is, of requiring public servants to declare whether they had played a role in the previous Communist regime. These critics applauded a similar policy when it was imposed on former fascist countries after 1945 and, indeed, generally support the Spanish government in its attempts to reopen what happened under Franco but, for whatever reason, consider it tasteless to apply the same standard to former Communists. Lech Kaczyński was a patriot: a man who never collaborated with the dictators or accepted the occupation of his country by the Red Army. Some Polish politicians, who had made occasional compromises – muting their criticism in return for being allowed to take up foreign postings, for example – found his purism uncomfortable. But ordinary Poles admired Kaczyński, and elected him with a handsome majority."

1.30pm David Cameron's statement:

"Well its absolutely tragic news this and everyone’s first thoughts will be with the family and the friends of all those who died in what seems to have been absolutely tragic event. I knew President Kaczynski and he was a very brave, Polish patriot, someone who stood up for freedom, who suffered hugely under communism but always stood up for his beliefs and for his great faith in his country. And it’s a huge loss it’s a very black day for Poland indeed and we must be thinking of all those who’ve suffered in this terrible event.”