Okay. Let’s… I tell you what, let’s forget the fact that you’re coming a little late to the party and embrace the fact that you showed up at all.
That line from the West Wing is my message to Nigel Lawson today. I’ve always had something of a crush on Nigella Lawson, and I’m now starting to become fond of her old man too (not in that way). First he speak sense on climate change, now he is speaking sense on the UK’s membership of the EU.
Setting aside the fact Lord Lawson’s u-turn on the EU is akin to him declaring that, in spite of the warnings and raft of evidence that was available to him, he is thoroughly disappointed that his expensively acquired tulips bulbs did not blossom into the beautiful roses he was convinced he would get, he makes the powerful point that any changes David Cameron might be able to secure from the EU will be equally as inconsequential as the crumbs from the table hailed by Harold Wilson as the outcome of a successful renegotiation with ‘Europe’ in the 1970s.
After years of delusion and self deception, it has finally dawned on Lord Lawson that the EU is a purpose-built bureaucratic construct, with the sole objective of drawing power to itself and eroding the sovereignty of nation states to the point they cease to exist in anything but name. That aim has never changed, it’s just that Nigel is now saying he can see it for what it is and rightly concludes the UK should have no part in it.
However, what is disappointing is that there is no mention in his comments to suggest Lord Lawson acknowledges the fundamental problem with the EU is that it is anti-democratic by design. Its very reason for being is to subvert and replace democracy, because allowing the people to determine for themselves what they want would result in the EU’s collapse, which would not suit the corporatist interests it serves.
So Nigel Lawson has correctly identified the remedy, even if it is still not clear to him what the ailment is. It’s progress of sorts.
Now we just hope more people will listen to this political heavyweight and see through Cameron’s pathetic charade of a loosely defined ‘re-negotiation’ before he declares success and recommends the UK stays part of the EU, regardless of how little control over our own affairs he repatriates from Brussels.
Autonomous Mind 
So Nigel Lawson has correctly identified the remedy, even if it is still not clear to him what the ailment is. It’s progress of sorts.
And might suffice in the long run.
I deem Lord Lawson’s exposition was an excellent piece, nicely eloquent in it’s intelligence, reason and balance.
I heartily recommend to all readers, to peruse the whole article and sit and ponder and re-read it in reflective silence to allow the nuanced import of his cannily drafted words to sink in.
In the article he mentions the acquis and goes on to outline how the EU march to a federal union is irreversible [thereby making Dave’s haughty claims of a repatriation of powers impossible]. He ends with mention – of the Passerelle clause of the Lisbon treaty to reinforce the point. Undoubtedly, it is cogently argued and no work of some bibulous character.
At the end Lord Lawson says this:
Before embarking on hastily contrived criticism, one would do well to attend fully and properly to imbibe Lord Lawson’s powerful, yet considered and articulate disquisition.
Hastily contrived criticism? Get over yourself Edward. For everything that Lawson said that was correct, he uttered not one word about the most essential issue that should turn every right thinking person against it – the deliberately engineered absence of democracy.
The economic downsides of EU membership are, of course, extremely important. But even they pale into insignificance when the basic tenets of democracy are being systematically dismantled in an effort to disenfranchise the people and pass power to the corporatist cabal that holds sway in Brussels.
Or is it you don’t think democracy is all that important, Edward?
The case for the EU and made by the TPTB – has always been couched in terms of the [nebulous] economic benefits of membership of the single market. Lord Lawson, trashed that argument – you know the one we’ve been sold for forty years and more.
By making the case for leaving the Brussels mafia – OUT of the EU,. Indirectly, does that not affirm Lord Lawson’s commitment to repatriation of power and thus – ‘democracy’ is re-installed back in London.
Though admittedly, even after that and if it were manifest – there would be an odyssey yet to travel.
And yes Lord Lawson was part of the establishment.
Though, are we so loftily perched, that we do not allow prodigal sons to return home to the bosom and home of right thinking men and women?
I agree with Edward, it is disappointing to see so much petty personal sectarianism here and on EU Referendum. Simply put, If we are to overthrow the EU superstate it will be a lot easier if we have the support of penititi like Nigel Lawson and Oskar Lafontaine. As far as Lawson not talking about democracy is concerned, well, as an ex-Chancellor his area of expertise is economics, so by sticking purely to what he knows he makes his case stronger, not weaker.
If we are to get out of the EU Westminster has to be of a mind to do it, and Westminster becoming of a mind to do it involves people changing their position. That would involve a flood of europlastics solidifying and those who’ve consistently been in favour of it in the past, switching positions. They can hardly be expected to leave politics altogether.
That’s going to make for some uncomfortable bedfellows, with opportunists and careerists suddenly side by side with others who’ve been of the pure faith for many years.
What Lawson appears to be doing here is pointing out the ridiculous nature of Cameron’s renegotiation bollox, which is the latest manifestation of the Tories’ “find the pea” eurosceptic bollox which has been their actual policy for a good 15 years. So we have a senior figure in the Tory Party rubbishing a longstanding and quite fundamental policy.
I think this is all to be welcomed, cautiously.
I’ve admired the stance Lawson has taken on CAGW
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/public/vj/eupoll/