Tories should consider a liberal bond in Europe too

Twitter is full of fascinating trivia about the goings-on in Westminster, as the coalition – the happiest event of my political life – begins to deliver. Trivia can illuminate the dark corners of politics. In Brussels the silly season is in full swing as the European parliament packs up this week for its six-week summer recess. Two of David Cameron's lamentable pre-election misalliances were represented at a Brussels dinner on Tuesday between Sir Reg Empey and Timothy Kirkhope, current leader of the Conservative MEPs. Empey honourably fell on his sword after his Ulster Unionists failed to win a seat at the general election, partly because of their alliance with the Conservatives. By contrast, Kirkhope caused further embarrassment to his party by drawing attention this week to Cameron's controversial European alliance with a "bunch of nutters, antisemites [and] homophobes", to quote Nick Clegg. Kirkhope proposed his own self-promotion to co-leader of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group without election. He claimed that this move has Cameron's support but it does not. Blogger Iain Dale picked up the story and demanded a response from No 10 , which lamely said that Cameron was "proud" of his new alliance, when in reality he must wish the whole thing would just collapse in the summer heat. Indeed, some politicians and journalists believe that this is Cameron's real intention. One senior Tory MEP told me that the ECR's nine Czech MEPs – who thought they were associating with democrats – were spitting blood about a deal involving the heads of the 25 British and 15 Polish MEPs. Some Tories are now demanding blood: Kirkhope's. As one continental MEP wrote in an email to his colleagues : "It is inappropriate that some of the big guys decide among themselves and they do not seem to have consulted even with the other big guys." And most bizarrely, Kirkhope's own explanatory email suggests that having two ECR presidents is more unifying than having one. Kirkhope and his divided platoon of Tory MEPs are no more capable of defending British interests than the Walmington-on-Sea home guard. Indeed, he has been known as Captain Mainwaring since he was my (very unreliable) chief whip. While Kirkhope was roasting inside the restaurant with Empey, I was in the garden of the same restaurant celebrating the anniversary of my re-election as the first-ever independent vice-president of the European parliament with my supporters. This was after standing last July against Kirkhope's pick, Michal Kaminski , a Pole with recent antisemitic, homophobic and racist links – who currently leads the ECR on his own. The Ulster Unionists, only a few years ago the fourth-largest party in the House of Commons, now have no MPs. One former UUP MP, Lady Sylvia Hermon , did survive by protesting against the alliance with the Tories and standing as an independent. Surely the summer break will give Cameron time to reflect on his European folly and to follow through on the so far highly successful coalition at home by bonding with the liberals in Europe – as I have done? Some form of link with the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats – which is on the winning side in 90% of votes in the European parliament – is a legitimate and credible alternative to isolation. As Nick Clegg said of the EU during another leaders' TV debate "size does matter". While the majority, mainstream European People's party (EPP) governs 13 EU countries and deploys 14 commissioners, the liberal family is also in government in 13 countries and has eight commissioners. Cameron's allies are nowhere near government. Indeed, unnoticed by the British media, its Latvian ally, the Freedom and Fatherland party (which celebrates the wartime role of the Waffen-SS) has just linked up with an even more extreme nationalist group there. In the recent Belgian, Dutch and Hungarian elections, the ECR's individual allies have seen their vote disappear and in June's Polish presidential election, the candidate of Cameron's allied Law and Justice party, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, flopped too. Even if Cameron as prime minister enjoys good bilateral relations with Angela Merkel or Nicolas Sarkozy, it is his ministers, diplomats, civil servants and MEPs who need the support of a serious European political family in order to deliver for Britain in a post-Lisbon Europe. It is in the national interest – and that includes Ulster – that Cameron swallows hard and admits that he made a mistake. The summer recess is just the occasion. Even the tweeters might not notice.