In 2001, a newly elected Tory MP agonised about Britains future in the European Union. On the one hand, he dreaded party meetings where fanatics and cranks were forever banging on about Europe: When, oh when, he sighed, will the Tories stop picking this scab? . . . The Tories should talk less about themselves (for which, read discussions on Europe) and more about what they can do for the country.
On the other hand, he wanted to be seen as a moderate Eurosceptic and a defender of a thousand years of British parliamentary democracy against Brussels bureaucrats. (Never mind that Britain was 300 years old and became a democracy in the 20th century.) He had, in fact, built his career by adopting amusing variations on this pose.
