In combat the three things most likely to get you killed are bombs, bullets and egos. Today - as wars are economic - we continue to endure a barrage of financial missiles and generally hold our own. But in the middle of this conflict a certain heroic General has compromised the British by making an egotistical decision that will have brutal consequences for more than a generation.
David Cameron - Prime Minister of the City of London – is clearly concerned with his legacy and by using his veto he did what was expected of him: he defended City interests. Only he didn’t – he compromised them massively.
Own Goal
Over the last 30 years the City of London has become unsustainably dominant. Without understanding that Britain has had peak financial services Cameron resorted to the neo-conservative mantra: finance is good, big finance is better and unregulated finance is best. Why? Because his self-interested city chums told him so and the insular / polarising Tory party revel in big divisive decisions that please their sponsors. Cue the guffawing laughs and backslapping.
But here’s the thing: Cameron did not get the protocol needed to exempt the UK from European regulation of financial services – so why the celebration? When the hangover clears Tory Eurosceptics will begin to understand that their man has shot himself (and them) in the foot. In future trying to get powers back from Brussels or influencing regulation will be impossible.
Nostalgic Island Monkeys
Cameron’s attempt to be Thatcher in drag is embarrassing. The only thing his veto has achieved is to ensure that Britain is sitting safely in Westminster when key European decisions are made – decisions that will affect Britain whether you like it or not. British influence over negotiations that are vital to this country's future is now none existent. This is crazy given that our export market opportunities have now been drastically limited as has our global standing. Make no mistake China and the US want to do business with Europe not a bunch of nostalgic island monkeys who are suspicious of Johnny Foreigner.
The further irony is that if we want decent advice as to how to organise the national finances we should turn to Germany not the short sighted bonus seeking city spivs who still think land speculation is the way forward. The indoctrinated Tory party have not yet understood that the human mind is like a parachute – it works so much better when it’s open.
When you read the centre right newspaper comments you begin to understand that in the UK the problem is endemic. The naive bourgeois bang on about Cameron's plucky magnificence. Little do they know that, for him, politics is not about strategy in the pursuit British liberty - it’s merely the same game of ever diminishing returns that his predecessors played. Nostalgia stops them seeing that he’s just set the course for a logical yet tragic British conclusion.
No way back…
This petulant isolation will be far from splendid. Europhobes hate the EU because it seeks to defend workers' rights and temper the worst excesses of the “free market”. At a time when neo-liberal lunatics are blindly welcoming economic policy dictated by despotic Goldman Sachs and defunct credit rating agencies Britain needs a voice at the European table. Or am I being too alarmist? Will ‘brave’ Dave also veto those dirty rotters?
What’s done is done - the most crucial foreign policy decision in decades that many will come to regret. This tribal stance has cast this little island adrift and will ultimately backfire. Repairing the rift with Europe may well prove impossible.
Without a well functioning economic base every democracy is temporary which makes ‘democratic’ politics a magnet for narcissists. Unfortunately narcissists desire for heroic acts means they often shy away from the patient decisions that are best for the national interest. By trying to build a legacy Mr Cameron has not bucked the trend.
