Guido, Hitchens and Tebbit are wrong

Guido Fawkes, joining Norman Tebbit and Peter Hitchens, has called on his readers to vote for UKIP, Libertas or even the Greens at the European Elections, depending upon their political inclinations.

I'd urge all centre right voters to support the Conservatives on 5th 4th June.  Here are a few assorted reasons...

• A big victory for the Conservatives is the thing Labour fears most.  A powerful Conservative vote is the best way of accelerating momentum towards the end of the Brown-Blair years.
• David Cameron is the one politician who can really lead British politics to a better place.  Although he must still go a lot further he has acted with resolution this week.  He does not deserve a bloody nose.  A bad result in June may risk encouraging the obstructionists within the parliamentary Conservative Party and their argument that voters cannot be reassured by the sort of action David Cameron has already taken.
• Tory MEPs will leave the federalist EPP and form a new coalition within the European Parliament against the EU project and its doctrine of ever closer union.  As Dan Hannan has written, that means, there will be a serious opposition force - properly resourced - within the European Parliament for the first time.  That's a big prize.
• UKIP has not earnt the right to be a protest vote against establishment politics.  Its MEPs have not conducted themselves well (as Roger Helmer has blogged and as and Libertas have (hotly) press released).
• Libertas is not a serious party.  Hastility thrown together across Europe it has no unifying philosophy.  Its founder Declan Ganley should have remained focused on defeating the Lisbon Treaty for a second time.

I'd also argue that the best way to bring change is to work for it from within mainstream parties.  Take Douglas Carswell.  His campaign against the Speaker and for radical decentralisation of power matters because he is a Conservative MP.  We need more Carswells.  More Hannans.  More Helmers.  More J P Florus.  David Cameron has done too much to dilute party democracy (especially on MEP selection).  He has diluted the case for believing that 'change comes from within' but it remains a fact that fringe parties achieve little.  We need as many Tory MEPs elected as possible to argue for a freer and more decentralised Europe.

Tim Montgomerie