Cameron delivers on EPP pledge

In case you missed it, David Cameron has carried out a truly Eurosceptic coup. No, he has not pledged to leave the EU (a move which the chatterati claim would be extremist and suicidal but which in fact would be enormously popular with the British electorate). He has, however, made the European Parliament more worthy of the name Parliament: he has given it an official opposition.

Up until now, the European Parliament was dominated by groupings (alliances of parties from various nations) that were all broadly in favour of deeper integration. The biggest of these, the European People's Party, is nominally centre-right but is as pro-EU as the Lib Dims.

Now, thanks in no small part to some masterly statesmanship from Cameron, Hague and others, we have a European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) grouping. This group is opposed to the EU superstate project and provides, for the first time ever, a solid opposition to the project from within.

Most of the liberal media chose to focus on the Conservatives' new bedfellows in the ECR: we were told they were homophobic, racist and so on. This commentary chose to ignore that two governing parties (those of Poland and the Czech Republic) sit in the ECR and that Italian neo-fascists sit in the EPP, which the Tories have now left. But there is no accounting for naked bias in the press.

The ECR will fight expressly for free markets, low taxes, energy security, the importance of the family, national sovereignty, commonsense immigration law, an end to excessive bureaucracy and more. The way the European Parliament works means that it will hold the balance of power in many debates.

This is a great leap forward for conservatives in Europe. Finally, we have a voice in Brussels. Cicero is a hardened Eurosceptic but he admits, and perhaps other conservatives will too, this: if the ECR can help turn the EU into a loose coalition of trading member states, restore power back to nations and boost conservative causes, perhaps EU membership can become a good thing.

Yes, you read that correctly.