12 Tory MEPs furious at their leader's support for 'EU London Embassy'

Earlier today Dan Hannan used his blog to highlight the fact that the EU is establishing what critics are calling an 'Embassy to London': 

"Apparently, the European Parliament is about to open a new embassy to the UK: a vast office in Tothill Street, Westminster, employing 50 or more staff. The rent alone is said to be £1.3 million a year... You can understand why they would be keen to be posted here. Quite apart from the attractions of the metropolis, Euro-officials will qualify for a generous London living allowance and, if they are non-British, for an expatriation allowance... It’s harmless enough, I suppose. Next to the gazillions that the EU squanders in overseas aid, structural funds and the Common Agricultural Policy, the cost hardly signifies. But it annoys me all the same. Who decided that this embassy was needed? Were our own elected representatives involved? If not, why not? And if so, what the hell were they thinking?"

It seems that "elected representatives" were involved.  Leader of the Tory MEPs Timothy Kirkhope knew about the 'Embassy' and didn't exercise a right to object.  Twelve Tory MEPs have reacted furiously and, in a further sign of their delegation's deeply-divided nature, 
have signed a letter to Mr Kirkhope accusing him of being "at odds" with the party's European "reform" agenda.

The text of the letter is pasted below.

"Dear Tim
 
At the Conservative delegation meeting on Wednesday Edward McMillan Scott raised the issue of the new joint office that the Parliament and Commission are establishing on Tothill St in London. You admitted that you had viewed the proposed new premises but claimed that Dermot Scott had told you that you had no say in the actual decision.
 
It now transpires that the report to the Parliament bureau states that most of the UK delegation leaders have been consulted and are in agreement with this proposal. You have raised no objections when you had the opportunity in December to do so. This office is going to house over 50 staff and cost the European taxpayer £1.3 million a year in rental, despite Brussels only being 2 _ hours by train from London. Commission Vice-President Margot Wallstrom's staff have apparently referred to the new premises as their "embassy" in London.
 
We cannot understand why you have not objected to this decision and have not consulted the Conservative bureau or delegation. It is completely at odds with our agenda of "reform" in Europe which includes obtaining value for money for the European taxpayer.
 
We urge you to immediately withdraw Conservative support from this proposal.
 
Yours sincerely,

Martin Callanan MEP
Giles Chichester MEP
Nirj Deva MEP
Den Dover MEP
Dan Hannan MEP
Chris Heaton-Harris MEP
Roger Helmer MEP
Syed Kamall MEP
Robert Sturdy MEP
David Sumberg MEP
Charles Tannock MEP
Geoffrey Van Orden MEP"

ConservativeHome understands that the 'Embassy' isn't all new money but is partly a merger of the EU's existing London presence.

Comments

[TomTom]

Oh dear....not the party to vote for on European issues

[Elaib]

According to the Bureau documentation, all British political Groups were consulted. Take a guess which group was not consulted.

Yup got it one.
The UKIP delegation, in the person of Gerard Batten, their London MEP, found out about this on Thursday last after the meeting that confirmed that the EU would take the largest and most expensice option, and went to the press, nobody bothered to run with it.
However one journalist did speak to Mr Macmillan Scott (and for that matter Jim Nicholson the UUP member who both sit on the Bureau), EMS, aware that there might be some coverage in the offing decided to mention the story at the Tory delegation meeting the following Wednesday.
The rebel letter and Mr Hannan's blog peice are thus an indirect result of UKIP efforts.

[Yet Another Anon]

The EU is hopeless, the sooner the UK leaves it and the European Court of Human Rights and European Court of Justice, the better!

[Tim Roll-Pickering]

Can someone remind me just how much our MEPs are costing the taxpayer?

Or for that matter how much time, energy and money was wasted in the endless rows that blew the EPP matter out of all proportion?

[James Boulter]

Interesting...I was with the German ambassador to the UK the other day, Wolfgang Ischinger, and he was proposing replacing the many embassies European countries have abroad with EU ones.

[Stewart]

I used to think I'd never want to be an MEP. I was wrong. I do. I want to get there so that I can vote myself out of a job when we vote to withdraw from the EU

[ToMTom]

the many embassies European countries have abroad with EU ones.

They have one in Washington DC with Bruton, the former Irish PM as Ambassador

[thatcherite]

The EU would be Better Off Without a London Embassy! The UK would be Better Off Out of the EU.

Stewart would not be allowed on the European candidates list. BOO supporters are "persona non grata". Only Europhiles need apply.

[Yet Another Anon]

Unfortunately MEP's can't vote to abolish the EU - if anyone can abolish it I assume it would be the Council of Ministers probably requiring unanimity with the approval of the European Parliament - the EU always seems to set things up in a way to make it easier to expand it and never to go back and scrap it.

[Derek]

Thank goodness for the 12 Conservative MEPs who have signed this letter. The whole episode shows how they have been side-lined, and how rotten the whole process has become.

[John Travis]

Well done to the 12 MEP's. How is Timothy Kirkhope still leader ? - he does nothing to further a Conservative agenda.

[Matt Davis]

It would be a suitable antidote to Cameron's breach of promise on immediate EPP withdrawal, which does actually matter a great deal to many of us, if he now ensured that our MEPs have a new leader who more accurately represents the views of both Conservative party members and the electorate.

This would be a very good way indeed to show the majority of his party that he is listening to them on Europe without "banging on" about it in too public or long winded a way and also without making promises that he can't keep about reform of the EU. Promises that can only be achieved by breaking international treaties which in itself would mandate a complete exit from the EU and that is something that he just isn't going to do. The swift replacement of Kirkhope would do a very great deal to secure Cameron's hold over the increasingly fractious eurosceptic majority in his party.

[John Allen]

Wonder if DC can actually sack Tory MEPs, in this case Timothy Kirkhope.
Even to just remove him as leader is probably banned by EU rules.

Has anybody in Europe taken the American Constitution and translated it for Europe?
It would be short enough for us to read and simple enough to hold an intelligent reforendum on to direct the EU in a sane direction.

[Elaib]

The Tory delegation's constitution means he has to wait until November before a leadership challange can be made. But it wouldn't work. Only twelve MEPs signed this letter. Famous eurosceps like Parish failed to.FYI the story is covered in a limited fashion in the Times,
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article1496823.ece

[John Ashworth]

We Eurorealists have to understand we have lost the Conservative Party, who are now proving to be more EU supportive than all the other Parties, because they carry out their objective of giving our Nation away by stealth and deception. Can't wait for the Euro elections to show what the Party I was until recently a Constituency Chairman really stands for.

[Sally Roberts]

"ConservativeHome understands that the 'Embassy' isn't all new money but is partly a merger of the EU's existing London presence."

Read this sentence again all of you who are hopping up and down with rage! This is a "non-story" as the EU has had an office in London for years. It is just now that some sources (for their own reasons) are referring to it as an "Embassy"!!!

[Sally Roberts]

I see the letter is mainly signed by the usual people although I have to say I am surprised to see the names of Giles Chichester and Charles Tannock!

[TomTom]

However Sally the fact remains that EU Embassies are being set up before you get chance to approve the "Constitution". I believe that in addition to Washington Dc there is one in Lima, Peru and that sharing of embassy facilities between Britain and France has been proposed.

It will be interesting to see when the FCO starts to worry about its diminished status

[Sally Roberts]

Tom Tom what this is in fact is an amalgamation of the two offices which were in London before - one for the Parliament and one for the Commission! It makes sens to merge them in my view. This story I fear is being whipped up by those who have some kind of "axe to grind".

[malcolm]

I see that all our best MEPs are signatories to this letter. I hope that this will be borne in mind when decisions are taken as to who should be at the top of the lists at the next Euro election and equally importantly who should be at the bottom.
I do agree with the editorial thread, it does seem that our MEP grouping is very split,this cannot be allowed to continue.

[Elaib]

Sally,
What you say is true they are bringing the two buildings together, by 2008 when the leases on the previous two buildings runs out. However thee is no excuse for them to have a building double the size of its requirements and for them to have gone for the most expensive option.
Put it this way. It will be the closest embassy to the HoC and No10.
No country in the world has until now needed its Embassy to be in such proximity to the centre of British Government. Why do you suppose that the EU feels the need?

[Paul Oakley]

Can anyone honestly say that they are surprised by this development? Yet again, it shows that our much-trumpeted "influence" within the EU does not exist.

[Don Hoyle]

Sally slightly misses the point, although she is quite right that calling a pre-existing office an "EU Embassy" suddenly has us jumping up and down.

Some years ago I read that, just as a nation/state can do, the EU was setting up a college in Great Britain to train EU diplomats and other functionaries. So, yes, they have been at it for some time, so why are we making a fuss?

A quick squizz on google finds the 'College of Europe', which has addresses in Brussels and Warsaw (nothing mentioned in Gt Britain). Someone may be able to enlighten us as to the whereabouts of the British arm of this college.

Back to Sally;

The point is the EU is well on the way to becoming a country by stealth. The fact that an 'office' has been operating here for some years is exactly the way they work. "We've had one man and his dog doing this for years, anyway, so we are simply expanding the service A BIT MORE". The "bit more" is actually another step towards completion of the original conception. (Not that long ago we started to sell off our own Embassies, officially because, world-wide, increasing land values meant we could no longer afford such palatial splendour. Obviously they will go, to be replaced by EU Embassies as we disappear into the EU state).

No-one seems to be doing anything to stop it.

When it doesn't matter, the MPs and MEPs shout out. When it does matter they let something vitally important to the EU and against our interests slip through on the QT (Corpus Juris being the classic example).

[Don Hoyle]

Could I say that Roger Helmer and Dan Hannan are honourable examples that immediately spring to mind vis-s-vis warning us about European objectives and voting against them if possible.

[Justin Hinchcliffe]

As a moderate pro-European, I was left scratching my head when I read the headline. But, as Sally rightly points out, this is about merging two existing offices and there isn't any 'new money'.

The letter is a ploy to curry-flavour with sceptics in the run up the Euro selections. Very surprised to see Charles and Robert add their names to it...

Stop press: anyone wanting to hear an alternative, more positive, view on Europe should contact me. We in Tottenham have invited Dr. Caroline Jackson, MEP, to give a talk at a dinner. Details to follow.

[Mark Wallace]

Justin Hinchcliffe and Sally Roberts are either being very naive or deliberately trying to obscure the facts.

If, as Sally says we should, we read the article above it says the Embassy will be "partly" formed of existing offices. Not, as Justin has now claimed "no new money". £1.3 million rent plus 50 staff is as I understand it a big expansion of the current EU presence in London.

The cost is only part of this. In a sense it is actually the least important aspect.

The EU is in a drive to expand its legal personality beyond that of an intergovernmental body to a state in its own right. The Constitution is part of that. Another linked aspect is the development of a single foreign policy - the Constitution includes provisions for an EU foreign minister and diplomats. Having formal Embassies rather than just representations, which is what we have at the moment, is a huge leap for the EU's legal character.

What impact does this have on us as a nation? Bear in mind that it is not just this "Embassy" in London, or the Embassies being established in other EU countries. There is a parallel drive to establish EU embassies outside the EU, which directly undermines our national ability to represent our own wishes and views through a Foreign Office controlled by our democratically elected Parliament.

If in future we are to be represented by diplomats and embassies out of our democratic control, wouldn't you say that is an important matter to "jump up and down about", Justin and Sally?

These MEPs are absolutely right to be annoyed that their delegation leader passed on the right to even comment on such an important change.

[H]

Yet again we see the Tory MEPs showing their true colours. Indeed Mr Kirkhope stood up at the last party conference and spoke of how he was "proud to be standing up for Britain's interests". How?
Those who think the choice is simply between the Lib/Lab/Con at the next election are mistaken. There is no choice between these three parties, they are unanimous in their support for the EU. So when i hear people say to me i must vote Tory to get Labour out i say that it does not matter which of these parties is in power. I know where my vote is going and from the comments here it looks like a few others will be joining me!

[Jerry]

The spineless Pro-EU Tory party is probably wholly in favour of an EU embassy in London. They are wedded to the EU completely. Perhaps Justins "more positive approach to Europe" will consider the hardship caused by the EU closure of thousands of rural post offices. Perhaps all is not lost? Recently unelected Dutch EU commissioner for competition, Neelie Kroes has apparently graciously allowed the British government to carry on subsidising rural post offices for a further short period of time. She is to be applauded for making such a difficult technical decision in our favour bearing in mind the dire threat a sub-post office in (say) Chipping Sodbury in the Cotswolds presents to the EU economy in general and the German economy in particular.

It must be remembered that the German post office, the Bundespost was allowed under EU competition rules to move into the UK postal market and cherry pick millions of pounds worth of profitable business mail from Royal Mail. The Bundespost has no obligation to provide a social service like the Royal Mail. So every letter which Royal Mail has to deliver for the Bundespost is subsidised by the British taxpayer by 6p a letter. But that is “fair” competition, EU style for you.

The reality is that the Great British government, voted in by you into the Mother of Parliaments in Westminster has to beg an unelected, obscure Dutch woman for permission to give some of our own money to a sub-post office in Chipping Sodbury. How humiliating can it get? Well this is the reality of voting for the Labour, Lib Dem or Conservative parties in the last election. If you vote Labour, Lib Dem or Conservative in the next general election it will be another vote to stay in the EU. So rest assured the humiliation can get a whole lot worse by the end of the next term of government. Added to which the equivalent cost of EU contributions and the cost of EU over-regulation alone will soar to well over £2000 billion. What fantastic value for money the Labour Lib Dem and Conservative parties have in mind for the unsuspecting voter, as none of these parties will even discuss the real costs of EU membership, let alone the ever increasing stranglehold the unelected EU commissioners have over our everyday way of life.

[Lord Cashcroft]

"Thank goodness for the 12 Conservative MEPs who have signed this letter. The whole episode shows how they have been side-lined, and how rotten the whole process has become"
12 useful idiots that give the Tories a fig-leaf while the project continues...........

[Joe]

The European Parliament and the European Commission has always had offices in every Member State and has had offices in London, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast since the UK joined the EU, so what are you getting excited about?

[Richard Hyslop]

At the very least Timothy Kirkhope should have kept his colleagues informed as to what he was up to.

[Andrew Ian Dodge]

It would be great to have an EU embassy in the London...after the UK pulls out of the clusterfuck that is the EU.

[Geoff]

Will the EU Embassy accept paying their Congestion Tax?

[now and again]

Elaib,

Can you stand over your claim that one delegation was not consulted?