Look North

Apparently the Conservative Party has forced its EU election candidates to agree with Tory membership of the European Peoples Party:

It is instructive, therefore, to discover, that Michael Howard, the Conservative Party leader, has demanded that all Tory candidates in next week’s elections, sign up to the party’s recent deal with the ultra-federalist, left-leaning European Peoples Party. Failure to sign would lead to deselection.

What is the EPP action plan the Tories have pledged themselves to? Phasing out the national veto; a pan-European president; a pan-European tax; and a single currency.

Even the Telegraph's pro-Conservative Charles Moore criticises the EPP link in today's paper.

I was amused to note that the EPP's website seems to think that the UK has taken over the Faroe Islands! No bad thing I say. I can see several advantages in the return of British imperialism:

1. The "British" Broadcasting Corporation might finally realise that places like Manchester are not in "the North".

2. Presumably we would have a larger share of all that forty-dollars-a-barrel North Sea oil.

3. Five British teams would be eligible to take part in the World Cup.

4. I would have to make a trip to the Faroes to visit Britain's most northerly bar, having already made the pilgrimage to the existing titleholder.