نِك كليغ الحصان الاسود في الانتخابات البريطانية - الليبراليون الديمقراطيون قادمون ...

Quote: A Letter from EDWARD McMILLAN-SCOTT EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT VICE-PRESIDENT Yorkshire & Humber, UK, www.emcmillanscott.com Brussels, 26 March 2010 Dear friends, colleagues and former Conservative colleagues, As you may know I have left the Conservative Party and joined the Liberal Democrats. Yorkshire & The Humber have not lost an experienced and senior MEP – but they have lost a Conservative. This is a brief explanation from me but if you want an independent view, go to Monday's Yorkshire Post article Own goal as Tories force out a decent man (http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/columnists/Bernard-Dinee...n-goal-as.6170738.jp - also pasted below). On March 5 the lawyers conducting my appeal against expulsion from the Conservative Party – for a stand of principle against David Cameron's new East European allies - received a letter which made it clear that the party had no intention of giving me a fair hearing at the final panel on March 18. The legal correspondence is on my website under Tory Troubles http://www.emcmillanscott.com/10.html. So on March 12 I withdrew from the appeal, resigned from the party and joined the LibDems. From being a liberal Conservative I have become a conservative Liberal. I have known, liked and respected Nick Clegg since he was a trade negotiator for the EU – and then as an MEP. Unlike today's Tory party, the LibDems want Britain to lead in Europe, not leave Europe. David Cameron walked away from Europe's centre-right family and so, for example, he was not present when leaders like Angela Merkel discussed 'European Economic Governance' at this week's EPP pre-Brussels summit with José Manuel Barroso and Herman Van Rompuy. The LibDems are a party of internationalists, not nationalists. I resisted several approaches to join but I need a political base, especially to carry on my work in human rights and democracy. I shall be working with their foreign affairs team, with people like Ming Campbell and Paddy Ashdown. I wrote about it in this week's issue of The Parliament Magazine http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/f81e86aa#/f81e86aa/1. As we go into the Easter recess it is a time for rest and renewal – and time to prepare for the most interesting general election of our times. To the Conservatives I have worked with, many of whom I liked, I express my regret at this sad episode, which has damaged the party more than me. Yours, Edward McMillan-Scott