MORE TORY TROUBLE

by RAY FLEMING
AFTER a bit of dithering David Cameron has dealt with his errant MP Derek Conway who had certainly brought an interesting new dimension to family allowance fraud. But now Mr Cameron has another problem, this time with one of his Members of the European Parliament. On Wednesday, during consideration of a widely-supported proposal to curb delaying tactics during debates, Daniel Hannan, Conservative MEP for South East England, said that only his respect for Hans-Gert Poetering, the German president of the European Parliament, prevented him from comparing the proposed curb to the Nazi law of 1933 which suspended parts of the German constitution and gave Hitler total power. Hanning's remark brought protests from all parts of the EU Parliament and the leader of the centre-right EPP group, to which Conservative MEPs belong, immediately dissociated the group from Hannan's remarks and threatened to expel him. Interesting chap, David Hanning MEP. He is also a leader writer on the Daily Telegraph and the organiser of that newspsaper's “I Want A Referendum” campaign on the EU's Reform Treaty. The campaign is holding unofficial referendums in ten UK constituencies; Mr Hannan said in an article yesterday that he will be speaking at Eastleigh, whose MP is the Liberal Democrat Chris Huhne, and then added: “We've asked Chris Huhne (whose name means Hen in German) and hope he will be there; it would be a pity to see him living up to his name.” Who are these people?