The speech itself was secondary school debating material and Hannan has the charisma of John Major on Mogadon, but it has been heavily promoted in America by the likes of the Drudge Report and Rush Limbaugh. The American right are so disorganised and desperate for anything that counters the current fad state intervention, they've promoted Mr Hannan's otherwise forgettable grandstanding to the level of a phenomenum. I do wonder if the slavering hordes of the American right, watching Hannan on You-Tube, as they masturbate over their copies of 'Free to Choose', even realise that he is talking about Brown, not Obama?
Given how fickle fortune is, however, I would advise Mr Hannan take advantage of her favour, and embark on an extensive - perhaps never-ending - American tour, where he can receive the acclaim of the far right underbelly of the Republican Party forever more. Christopher Hitchens seems able to make a living out of it.
The activities of the trog-right in the USA is only of passing interest, though the fact they've been reduced to recycling a naff speech by a dull Euro-MP as ammunition against Obama shows how empty the Reprublican armoury is at this time. It will be interesting to see if the moderates are able to resist this kitchen sink tactic, and what sort of Republican party emerges from it in three years time. But that's for another day.
What is of more immediate interest is the effect this will have on the British election in 2010. At the moment, the speech is being hailed as a coup-de-grace to Brow's administration, but in the longer term, I think it might signal a revival in his fortunes. Hannan is desperately anti-European. Up until now, David Cameron ha worked very hard to preserve unity on Europe, but Hannan's hour in the sun is going to maker that much more difficult for him.
Hannan's a gibbering anti-Euro loon, and a self-promoting grandstander. His antipathy to the EU is so strong it is unlikely he'll manage to keep quiet, and his vanity will further prompt him to speak out. He'll love his new found fame and will use it to bombard his suddenly attentive audience with lots of anti-Euro diatribes.
Cameron willl be forced to say something at some point. If he endorses Hannan's rantings, he'll face a 'wet' revolt from the sane part of his party. If he slaps the little tyke down, the anti-Euro's will stage a revolt and - who knows - all piss of to join the UK Independence Party, with Hannon as its new leader.
This, from the Independent, won't help:One of the Conservative Party's biggest financial backers in effect defected to the UK Independence Party last night, claiming he was fed up with David Cameron's policy on Europe.
Expect more of this sort of stuff as the irrepressible anti-Euro Tories start to speak up again.
Spread-betting millionaire Stuart Wheeler said he doubted the Tory leader would hold a referendum on the EU's Lisbon Treaty – and revealed he is giving £100,000 to the Euro-sceptic Ukip. Mr Wheeler told the News of the World he would vote for Ukip in European polls in June.
The paper said that Mr Wheeler now intended to vote for Ukip - which campaigns for withdrawal from the EU - in the European parliamentary elections in June, although he would continue to support the Tories the local and general elections.
"The EU is doing so much damage to our economy and our way of life that I can no longer vote Conservative at the European elections," he told the paper. (2)
If it gets bad enough, it might be very interesting in 2010 and the British electorate might have an election about something real, like where they stand in relation to Europe, as opposed to something trivial, like how much they doislike Gordon Brown. Which is the opposite of what David Cameron wnts. Until now, he's been on a short, straight path to No. 10 - all he has to do is smile, blame Gordon Brown for the recession, and steer clear of any solid policy and any thing that might tear his carefully constructed facade of Tory unity apart. And unfortunately, that just happened.
1 - "Daniel Hannan Rips Gordon Brown a New One," video clip posted on You Tube by the steve Gill Show, 25th of March, 2009. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mc9TVlzdEsc)
2 - "Tory backer decamps to give Ukip £100,000," by Gavin Cordon, published in The Independent, 29th of March, 2009. (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tory-backer-decamps-to-give-ukip-163100000-1656748.html)
1 comment:
I have commented on this fellow on my blog. He probably has had far more attention than he deserves already. I agree that his whole demeanour is that of a rather smug, dull sixth form debater. He is so anti-Europe yet is happy to sit as a member of the European Parliament and collect his £ 172 per day of allowances. I suppose he's not too proud or anti-European to do that. I have seen something called a Daniel Hannan for Congress website. He seems to be yet another little Brit shit who would prefer to be an American. Does his knowledge of history extend as ar as the American Civil War I wonder. What happened to the Confederate States when they tried to secede from the Union. They were smashed up in a brutal and bloody civil war. I doubt if the EU would do that if the UKIP party won the elections and UK left the EU. Considering that 60% of UK trade is with the EU it could be quite a risky strategey. I suppose that Hannan and his ilk think they would be welcomed with open arms into NAFTA. Perhaps they had better think again.
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