At this rate Douglas Carswell, Europlastic extraordinare, will soon be fighting for the UK to remain in the EU, such is the pace of his efforts to toady up to Cameron and the Tory leadership.
A piece in the Telegraph reports on a study by Capital Economics (commissioned by Geert Wilders) into the likely impacts of the Netherlands leaving the EU. It concluded that the Netherlands would be better off out of the EU, explaining:
Over that 21 year period, the benefits of Nexit to Dutch national income would have accumulated to between €1,100 (£913bn) billion and €1,500 billion (£1.3 trillion) in today’s prices.
This is equivalent to between €7,100 (5,893) and €9,800 (£8,134) per household each year. But even if the Netherlands is unable to negotiate a status akin to Switzerland’s, the economy would be better off out of the union than in.
Naturally the Telegraph scampered off to the prestigious Carswell for comment, and he didn’t disappoint Conservative HQ with his contribution (emphasis mine):
This report is significant because it has been produced by a credible City research group. It cannot be easily dismissed.
It shows we are no longer alone. It is not just us Brits who have come to realise that European integration is fundamentally flawed. We’re very like the Dutch, a small country that has prospered by trading globally. Think what countries like ours could be in a different type of Europe.
‘In’ a different type of Europe? That’s not the same as leaving the EU, it sounds more like Cameron’s Deludophile ‘reform’ agenda at work.
It seems that when it comes to the EU, the Carswell residence is playing host to a huge exhibition of the hokey cokey. One minute he wants out, then he wants in. It’s amazing how the prospect of being outside Cameron’s wigwam of trust can focus the mind on career and electoral prospects.
But then, Carswell is a politician and the political class across Europe wants a piece of the EU action to service their own interests, regardless of what the voters think.
While 55% of Dutch voters surveyed say they would vote to leave the EU if the stated benefits could be achieved, the Dutch finance minister, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, immediately dismissed the idea as ‘very unwise’. It seems he will soon be able to count Douglas Carswell as a kindred, pro-EU spirit.
Autonomous Mind 
“‘In’ a different type of Europe? That’s not the same as leaving the EU, it sounds more like Cameron’s Deludophile ‘reform’ agenda at work.”
Europe is not the EU and Europe wouldn’t vanish if the EU ceased to exist.
Yes, I know, the Tories have played word games with Europe and the EU for decades. They’ve also prattled about a “Europe of nation states” and ludicrous dreams of reform.
According to this from a couple of days back he does still wish for us to leave the EU.
http://www.talkcarswell.com/home/a-conservative-manifesto-would-need-to-be-euro/2759
However, he’s a Tory first and sees all this happening within the context of a Conservative government. The Tories have always been very much pro-EU despite the dishonest claptrap they come out with from time to time. He reckons this is changing and will have to change.
I don’t believe it, they’ve got too much previous. I can’t see that voting Conservative is going to bring us closer to leaving the EU. If their electoral prospects had been better, they’d never have mentioned the possibility of a referendum, or Hague’s review of competences, nor would we have seen the europlastics, which I’ve always thought were stage managed. It should be clear that whatever eurosceptic noises they make, they absolutely do not want to leave the EU.
The impression I get is that he’s rallying to the leader.
Is he naive, cynical, a blind party loyalist, or just confused? I don’t think it matters, the effect is the same; knowingly or unknowingly he’s encouraging people to accept a false prospectus.
I do think there’s something to what he says, in that I believe we will leave the EU and this will not be done by electing an anti-EU government. It will be happen because a basically pro-EU government has had its arm twisted by events inside, and maybe more importantly, outside the UK, to leave, and it can no longer control things as it would wish.
A different type of EUROPE could mean a free trade zone of separate countries and economies, not the current European financial and sovereign union.
In which case, John, how could we ever be ‘out’? We know a loose confederation of independent states in a simple trade area is not on the agenda. The EU is a political beast, period. Carswell knows this and I don’t think he mis-spoke.
AM, Carswell’s position and words bear interpretation, which can be charitable or otherwise. We don’t always speak with the precision with which we ought to.
His problem is the conflict between wanting to get out of the EU and seeing this as of signal importance, and being a Conservative MP, when it’s clear that the Conservative Party is determined that we remain in and has a long standing policy of being false about it.
You can come up with all sorts of explanations for Carswell’s position, some sympathetic – trying to exert influence where it can be exerted most practically – and some cynical – fulfilling the role of a Judas Goat – whatever.
The fact remains that there’s a fundamental conflict in being a Conservative MP, and advocating getting out of the EU, as a basis of policy.