Well now, by most accounts our Prime Minister lost his cool on Tuesday during a two hour session at the European Parliament. His anger reached a peak when he attacked the UK Independence Party as being 'absurd' for wanting to leave the EU. Gesturing at the line of small Union flags on the desks of UKIP members Mr Blair snapped '' You sit there with our country's flag but you do not represent our countries interests." Later adding, '' This is the year 2005, not 1945. We are not fighting each other any more.''
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Well hang
on here. Gordon Brown was none too pleased with our PM's representation of our country's financial interests last week. A source close to Mr Brown left, looking less than impressed, said when asked whether the Chancellor supported the overall EU budget agreement struck by Mr Blair in the early hours of Saturday the curt reply was ''we are not giving a response'', which is akin to saying that the Pratt has f~~~~ed up the deal.
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It is now quite clear that the deal means forgoing the £1billion annually from that part of the rebate that would have applied to spending on eastern European nations. Because of the peculiarities of the way the multi-annual budget pans out, the UK rebate is largely unchanged for the first three years of the financial period 2007-13, Blair's give-away kicking-in only in 2010, when instead of £1billion it will be nearly £2billion, for that and successive years. Worse still, that figure is likely to be "locked in" as a minimum annual deduction when a new budget is negotiated for the period after 2013.
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As Blair mentioned the war, so too can we. An excellent letter published on tuesday in the Metro (London edition) by a regular correspondent who wrote:
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''Gullible Prime Ministers have returned from Europe waving worthless bits of paper before but none has previously returned waving a £7billion bill and claimed a victory. It is a mystery how Tony Blair managed to give up practically everything that was asked for in return for a vague promise from the French that they might not veto Common Agricultural Policy reform at some indefinite point in the future (which they will, in any case).
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I suppose that shows the difference in the quality of leader we have these days. Margaret Thatcher managed to secure the rebate and Blair gave it away for nothing - presumably to secure what he likes to refer to as his 'legacy'. People normally like to inherit a legacy - it is typical of Blair that his legacy will be another bill.''
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Additionally there is superb comment in the Daily Telegraph letters page on Wednesday, Michael Bouet of Crawley, W Sussex, complains that "EU contributions mean loss of public services".
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Things can only get better, for our metropolitan Political pro EU elite, well perhaps not. If EU Commission President Barroso gets his way, and the EU manages to introduce a direct tax – which is what the banner headline in the Express is suggesting today, with the strapline, "How Brussels plans to raid wages". One interesting suggestion in the Express piece though, is that Barroso is likely to go for a fuel tax, "because it can be promoted as a 'green' anti-pollution measure". They may be right, but our friend and expert Dr Richard North reckons that road charging, using the Galileo satellite positioning system, where Brussels can cream off a levy through national collection authorities as the most likely choice of tax.
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There is hope in all this - £2billion is a lot of money and the British public is beginning to wake up to the fact that the EU is hitting their pocket.
.
Well hang
on here. Gordon Brown was none too pleased with our PM's representation of our country's financial interests last week. A source close to Mr Brown left, looking less than impressed, said when asked whether the Chancellor supported the overall EU budget agreement struck by Mr Blair in the early hours of Saturday the curt reply was ''we are not giving a response'', which is akin to saying that the Pratt has f~~~~ed up the deal..
It is now quite clear that the deal means forgoing the £1billion annually from that part of the rebate that would have applied to spending on eastern European nations. Because of the peculiarities of the way the multi-annual budget pans out, the UK rebate is largely unchanged for the first three years of the financial period 2007-13, Blair's give-away kicking-in only in 2010, when instead of £1billion it will be nearly £2billion, for that and successive years. Worse still, that figure is likely to be "locked in" as a minimum annual deduction when a new budget is negotiated for the period after 2013.
.
As Blair mentioned the war, so too can we. An excellent letter published on tuesday in the Metro (London edition) by a regular correspondent who wrote:
.
''Gullible Prime Ministers have returned from Europe waving worthless bits of paper before but none has previously returned waving a £7billion bill and claimed a victory. It is a mystery how Tony Blair managed to give up practically everything that was asked for in return for a vague promise from the French that they might not veto Common Agricultural Policy reform at some indefinite point in the future (which they will, in any case).
.
I suppose that shows the difference in the quality of leader we have these days. Margaret Thatcher managed to secure the rebate and Blair gave it away for nothing - presumably to secure what he likes to refer to as his 'legacy'. People normally like to inherit a legacy - it is typical of Blair that his legacy will be another bill.''
.
Additionally there is superb comment in the Daily Telegraph letters page on Wednesday, Michael Bouet of Crawley, W Sussex, complains that "EU contributions mean loss of public services".
.
Things can only get better, for our metropolitan Political pro EU elite, well perhaps not. If EU Commission President Barroso gets his way, and the EU manages to introduce a direct tax – which is what the banner headline in the Express is suggesting today, with the strapline, "How Brussels plans to raid wages". One interesting suggestion in the Express piece though, is that Barroso is likely to go for a fuel tax, "because it can be promoted as a 'green' anti-pollution measure". They may be right, but our friend and expert Dr Richard North reckons that road charging, using the Galileo satellite positioning system, where Brussels can cream off a levy through national collection authorities as the most likely choice of tax.
.
There is hope in all this - £2billion is a lot of money and the British public is beginning to wake up to the fact that the EU is hitting their pocket.
.
Unpopular taxes imposed by unelected authorities do not go down well with the English speaking peoples. From right, Boadicea's revolt in AD 60 over the Roman death duties tax on her husband's estate, The Peasants revolt over the poll tax in 1381, The English Civil War fuelled by the introduction of Income and Property Tax of 1642, the unfortunate misunderstanding at that tea party in Boston USA in 1770, pictured below left, and Baroness Thatcher's miscalculation over the Community Charge in 1989 all led to revolutionary change.
Barroso forcing the introduction of an EU tax combined with Blair's appeasement of the French last Saturday could well be the beginning of the end of the British people's sleep walking into the EU political project. We will soon know and not before time either.
Barroso forcing the introduction of an EU tax combined with Blair's appeasement of the French last Saturday could well be the beginning of the end of the British people's sleep walking into the EU political project. We will soon know and not before time either.
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PT
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As we struggle to come to terms with the small-print of EU budget settlement, a commission document has re-emerged which shows that Blair's surrender was pre-ordained, ever since July of last year.
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Read: 'When the deal was done'
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