In a powerful Times comment today, David Aaronovitch (£), paints a delightful picture of Jacob Rees Mogg as the quintessential anti-EU Tory MP. The Mogg, as he is now affectionately known, has become a great Commons character in the space of a few months. For Aaronovitch his Shakespearean rhetoric as he rails like Glendower against the monstrous EU and the cheers he gets as he summons ‘spirits from the vasty deep’ sum up the current generation of Tory MPs.
It is a curiosity that the Conservative party is so monolithic on Europe. Burke famously wrote of the duty of an MP ‘His unbiased opinion, his mature judgement, his enlightened conscience, he ought not to sacrifice … to any set of men living’.
Yet in the 305 Conservative MPs there is a unanimity of opinion on Europe that is more monolithic than congresses of communist parties in the era of Stalin. The split between so-called rebels and those who supported the prime minister is somewhat artificial. Taken as a whole, Conservative MPs, whether on the payroll or in the Farageiste tendency, now see the European Union as a source of problems for Britain.
But the whole point of parliamentary and party politics is to allow debate and dissent and disagreement to emerge. That was Burke’s argument that without argument there is little point in democracy. But the voices of pro-Europeans have been utterly silenced in the Conservative party.
There was one exception. In a remarkably brave speech on Monday night, Robert Walter, the North Dorset Tory MP, did defend Europe. He said:
‘It was from the embers of the second world war—a Europe torn apart by Germany and Italy—which for many was the second terrible war in a generation after the great war, or the war to end all wars, that the idea of the European Community and European Union was born. I believe that European unity was a cause to end all wars—on this continent at least. I campaigned hard in the 1975 referendum for a yes vote and I remember endless arguments with my late father-in-law who told me not to trust the Germans and certainly never to trust the Italians. He rang me up after the vote and said, “I thought I’d better tell you I voted in the referendum yesterday”, and I said, “Oh, yes”, expecting him to tell me that he had voted no. He said, “I voted yes—not for me and probably not for you but for my grandchildren”. His grandchildren are my children and they are grown up now; indeed, they are the same age as many of my colleagues in the House today.’
Tory MPs sat in silence as Walter went on: ‘What I am sad about is that there are those who want to destroy that legacy and the legacy of those who fought and voted for that lasting peace—a Europe in harmony, comfortable with itself and respecting differences of culture, language, history and nationality, but confident in its ability to work together.’
Walter went on destroy in a few sentences the fantasy Europe of Jacob Rees Mogg and Daniel Hannan and Nigel Farage that there is a glorious future for Britain as a greater Norway outside the EU: ‘Norway does not have a free ride in its access to the single market. What is more, its price for access means that it too implements all EU directives—in fact, it has a better record than us, with 99.6 per cent of EU directives having been implemented by the Norwegian parliament—but the difference is that it has no ministers at the table when they are discussed. It has no commissioner, no parliamentary representation in co-decision and it has to accept whatever Brussels sends. It is not even a case of, “Take it or leave it”; it is, “Take it, or else”. ’Walter concluded with this appeal: ‘Europe needs Britain and Britain needs Europe. We are in Europe, our history is European and our destiny is European.’
Walter is 63 but why is there not a single Conservative MP who echoed his words and vision? In the political market is there not a niche for a younger Tory MP who might make the case for Europe? Even at the height of Labour Euroscepticism there were MPs like John Smith, George Robertson or Giles Radice or in the 1980s, younger MPs, like Gordon Brown and Tony Blair, who defied conventional Labour party thinking and argued for Europe.
A Conservative party that is so utterly monolithic is not healthy. But Robert Walter stands alone as he refuses, like Edmund Burke, to sacrifice his judgement and opinion to the Daily Mail and Daily Telegraph and all his colleagues and leaders who have spent recent years denouncing Europe and calling for referendums and renegotiations. A little more admiration for the lonely voice of Robert Walter and a little less publicity for Rees Mogg and the other Europhobes is now overdue.
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Denis MacShane is MP for Rotherham and a former Europe minister