We all knew that Cameron’s new European friends would prove to be a handful. It was a good guess that some of his Euro MEPs would not sit comfortably with their new Polish and Czech allies, but none of us thought that the deal which took three years to broker would begin to unravel on day one. By the end the first week the newly formed European Conservative Reform group (ECR) was looking decidedly ropey and the smart political bets are that within six months the group will fall apart.

Edward McMillan-Scott MEP’s ambition to be elected as vice president of the European parliament for a third mandate was seen to be a sacrifice worth making to secure the support of their new Polish friends. Unfortunately, for McMillan-Scott the accompanying loss of status was a sacrifice too far, and he decided to stand against Michal Kaminski MEP, the candidate chosen by his new group, and worse still won a resounding victory against him. Edward McMillan-Scott was expelled from the European Conservatives, and angry Polish MEPs demanded control of the ECR as compensation. Timothy Kirkhope had no choice but to resign and Michal Kaminski was elected the new leader. Harold Wilson said that a week was a long time in politics, but in this case it all happened in 24 hours!

So Michal Kaminski becomes the new face of the Tories in Europe. A man who as a student belonged to the far right and anti-Semitic National Rebirth of Poland. Kaminski now sits with the Law and Justice Party, famous for their right wing and homophobic positions. It beggars belief how these new allies fit in with Cameron’s re-branded Tories. These Europeans are as nasty as could be.

One thing for sure is that apart from their intense dislike of Europe, they will have more to quarrel about than to keep them together. As the week unraveled it became clear that leaving the European Peoples’ Party brought little to the Tories. They lost the vice presidency of the parliament, lost the control of their group and had gained very few positions of any significance. Labour’s accusation that Cameron was putting dogma before his country’s interest had been proved right. European Tories have been sacrificed for the sake of their leadership’s Europhobia and for some that was a sacrifice too far. Before long there may be others to follow McMillan-Scotts example.