Cabinet divisions and politicians career calculations are all very well,but Britain’s future in Europe is far bigger than the Conservative party’s internal machinationsThere is now to be a UK referendum on Europe. As a result there is an open quarrel in the Conservative party. The two things are not the same. The first debate belongs to all of us. The moment doesn’t. It is vital to understand that these are distinct things. The first is a national democratic decision with generational implications for all of us; the moment a partisan psychodrama. It things a lot whether Britain remains in Europe. It doesn’t really matter two hoots that Boris Johnson has come down on the Brexit side of the fence. It will deepen the party’s internal rift but, given that his importance is routinely overestimated, and whether he will be the enormous asset the leave side calculates he will be is another matter.
Large parts of the Conservative party and all of the anti-European media acquire blurred these two issues for years. Ever since David Cameron first pledged a referendum they acquire tried to frame the contest as a moment of potential British redemption. In this view of the referendum,the Conservative party must be liberated from the prime minister’s pragmatism so that the country can then be liberated from the EU. That’s what a lot of grassroots Tories believe. It’s why Ukip exists. It’s why there was all that jousting over referendum process in the past few months. And it is why so many obsessive anti-Europeans acquire moved so quickly into battle mode after Friday’s deal in Brussels, without bothering to read it in most cases.
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Source: theguardian.com