France is Winning

I hate losing. When I’m in the right, it is even worse. So the current budget negotiations drive me crazy.

The Government has begun preparing public opinion for a climb-down over Britain's £3 billion a year rebate from the EU budget

Why climb down? We are in the right here. We have already offered to do the honourable thing and reform our rebate in exchange for changes in CAP. The real problem, France, is totally unrepentant.

Philippe Douste-Blazy, the French foreign minister, emerged from the same meeting offering no concessions, saying that farm subsidies could not be touched and calling for an end to Britain's rebate.

I could just say bastards. But the real villains in all this are not the self serving French, they are just doing what we expect them to. It’s the British Government that is playing Quisling again. They let that useless moral vacuum Chirac win every single time. Our Dear Leader wants to be liked; it is the only explanation I can find for his constant surrender tactics. That’s one reason why I prefer Davis to Cameron in the Tory leadership race. Politics is not a business for people who want to be liked. They shirk from what needs to be done.