Cameron caught out lying to his own MPs over UK’s sovereignty

Last Updated: February 10, 2016By

Dominic Grieve said any attempt to challenge the primacy of EU law would be thrown out by the European Court of Justice [Image: Christopher Thomond for the Guardian].

Cameron’s drivel about sovereignty is almost as unconvincing as his party’s ridiculous insistence that Trident is a useful independent deterrent against nuclear attack.

Tories love to criticise the debate in the Labour Party over Trident, but look what they say themselves. Here’s Philip Hammond:

160209nucleartarget

Yes, he was talking about North Korea. But if having a nuclear weapon make Kim Jong Un a target, then it must also make one of David Cameron.

Still not convinced? Here’s Michael Portillo:

160209portillonucleardeterrent

If it isn’t a deterrent, then what do we do when the enemy comes knocking? When does David Cameron (or whoever) decide to press the nuclear button?

It’s a question that was asked in the classic TV comedy Yes, Prime Minister. Faced – by his chief scientific advisor – with the prospect of “salami-slicing” tactics by a foreign aggressor, PM Jim Hacker is asked at which point he will resort to nuclear retaliation. His hesitance prompts the immortal line: “So what is the last resort? Picadilly? Watford Gap service station? The Reform Club?”

Eventually, Hacker admits to his Permanent Secretary, Sir Humphrey Appleby, that he probably wouldn’t ever use nuclear weapons, and that the UK’s foreign adversaries probably know this for a certainty, provoking yet another immortal response: “Yes, but even though they probably certainly know that you probably wouldn’t, they don’t certainly know that although you probably wouldn’t, there is no probability that you certainly would!”

All of this brings us back to David Cameron and his attempt to enlist the support of Boris Johnson in the EU referendum. Cameron is claiming that he is asserting the UK’s sovereignty over that of the Eurocrats – by making clear that the UK has “gifted” powers to the EU and has the right to withdraw such powers.

When?

What will the EU have to do to force Cameron’s hand? Metaphorically march down Picadilly?

Of course not. He’ll never do it.

Cameron’s silly “renegotiation” of the UK’s place in Europe has shown that he can’t stand up to Brussels.

Knowing that Cameron probably wouldn’t ever take back that part of UK sovereignty that was ceded to the EU, we know that the Eurocrats probably certainly know that he probably wouldn’t, so we can certainly be sure that, if we know Cameron probably wouldn’t, Boris certainly knows it too.

He might look and act like a dopey, strategically-shaved ape, but Boris Johnson is far too intelligent to be fooled.

A plan by David Cameron to win the support of Boris Johnson in the EU referendum by asserting the sovereignty of parliament risks turning into a “pointless” gesture, the former attorney general, Dominic Grieve, has warned.

As the London mayor keeps the Conservative party guessing about his plans, Grieve said that any attempt by an EU national parliament to challenge the primacy of EU law would be thrown out by the European court of justice.

Grieve spoke out after the prime minister told MPs last week that he was prepared to give ground to Johnson’s demand for the government to assert the sovereignty of parliament. The prime minister told Johnson in the House of Commons that he would introduce measures to “put beyond doubt” the sovereignty of parliament.

It is understood that the government is not planning to amend the European Communities Act of 1972, which asserted the primacy of EU law and paved the way for the UK’s accession to the EEC the following year. But the prime minister is prepared to amend other pieces of legislation to make clear – as it did in the European Union Act of 2011 – that the UK parliament had gifted the powers to the EU and was therefore sovereign because it has the right to withdraw such powers.

Source: PM’s vow to assert sovereignty of UK parliament is pointless, says Grieve | World news | The Guardian

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No Comments

  1. jdman February 10, 2016 at 5:59 am - Reply

    The Sovereignty of the Scottish people is his Achilles heel, we CAN withdraw our support any time we like and HE knows it

    • Mike Sivier February 12, 2016 at 7:20 pm - Reply

      Yes they can – in exactly the same way the Welsh and Northern Irish can.

  2. Adam Clifford February 10, 2016 at 5:36 pm - Reply

    Hi,Mike.Just wondering if you know of an account of what the labour party are doing at the moment,and what they are doing.Recently it is only at PMQs that I hear of Corbyn.I think PMQs is a farce,and I imagine that Corbyn is working in the background on policy.It is for sure that the media and press will deprive him of the oxygen of publicity,and going from wholly hostile media/press to hardly any seems to be strategic rather than representing what Corbyn and labour are actually doing.
    With a virtual media silence on what Corbyn and labour are doing,it is an effective means for creating the impression that nothing is going on.
    Do you know where a log/record/account of what Corbyn and labour are doing?
    Seeems to me that the press and media are airbrushing him and labour out of the public arena.

    • Mike Sivier February 17, 2016 at 12:50 pm - Reply

      I would have sent you to http://press.labour.org.uk which was where the party published its press releases – but it didn’t seem to be working when I checked it.
      Obviously there are a great deal of stories in the press (mostly negative). Labour has a Facebook page where it publishes information. There is a Labour Twitter feed (several, in fact).

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