In the celebrations by the centre-right Partido Popular in Madrid last night one message came over again and again. Mariano Rajoy said his government would place Spain ‘at the head of Europe.’ Allowing for the hyperbole of election night excitement, his statement underlines the ever-widening gap between David Cameron’s Conservative government and his opposite numbers in Europe. Britain has a mono-lingual, mono-cultural political elite which is increasingly disconnected from the rest of Europe.

It is too easy and simplistic to blame Merkozy. Berlin and Paris are important. But Warsaw, Rome, the Hague, Stockholm and now Madrid see Europe through completely different eyes from the London political-media elites. Take Denmark. Anti-Euro obsessives take comfort in Denmark not being part of the single currency. But Denmark is a closet euro user. The Danish Crown never varies in worth against the euro. Interest rates in Denmark are those set by the European Central Bank, as is money supply. For businesses and banks, Denmark is to all intents and purposes in the eurozone. Similarly, Switzerland has decided to peg the Swiss franc at CHF 1.20 to the euro.

So for the new Spanish prime minister, as he decides what his first profession of government faith should be, the invocation of Europe makes sense. When he attends the first European Council meeting he will be greeted as a conquering hero by his fellow centre-right political leaders at the pre-Council dinners where a great deal of political fixing takes place.

David Cameron has adopted a policy of auto-isolation by rejecting political cooperation and networking in Europe. To be sure, as head of a one of the big three European states he is received respectfully by fellow government leaders. And since he is polite and well brought-up he gets face time with his peers in Europe. In addition some of the points Cameron makes make sense. Ever-reducing working time was logical in the closed economy of pre-globalisation Europe. It also made sense for the exhausting physical labour of a car assembly line or steel mill. But white collar work or sitting in front of a computer screne does not require an ever shorter working week. Faced with the challenge of competition from Asia, working time has to be rethought unless more and more jobs are to be offshored.

But when Cameron does talk sense he still remains in the political isolation ward. The decision to link up with oddball populist, nationalist parties in eastern Europe is now costing Britain dear. Nick Clegg famously described Cameron’s EU allies as ‘nutters, anti-Semites and homophobes.’ The ruling centre-right Civic Platform government in Poland, where growth rates are more than respectable, are really quite cross with the Tories’ love-in with the discredited and defeated ultra-catholic PiS (Law and Justice) party. The Polish foreign and finance ministers are British educated and UK-friendly. But they look to Berlin where they can talk to a chancellor in the same political family as themselves rather than London, which under Tony Blair or Margaret Thatcher was seen as Poland’s natural partner. Not any longer, as Cameron is seen as anti-Polish on issues from the EU budget to defence policy.

Madrid will sign up for any new consolidation of economic governance for the eurozone. Rajoy will seek to align centre-right ruled Spain with Berlin. The Tories bang on and bang on about Brussels and Strasbourg, but the two EU centres are less and less important as decisions are now taken in what might be called ‘Network Europa’ – the amorphous policy deciders now largely controlled by centre-right parties.

Cameron’s self-chosen isolation is costing Britain dear. It would be good to have that exposed and challenged in the Commons and the media. For that to happen progressive politics needs to train up a new generation of political activists and communicators who understand modern politics and today’s Europe. The Lib Dems cannot undertake this task for obvious reasons. But can, or rather will, Labour?

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Denis MacShane is MP for Rotherham and a former minister for Europe

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