Conservative MEP likens EU to Soviet Union
Conservative MEP David Campbell-Bannerman has found a nice long stick to prod America with over its support of the EU. In a speech at the Margaret Thatcher Centre in Washington he likened Europe to “a lighter, less onerous Soviet Union” and told his American audience that it is ultimately “more foe than friend.”
He went on to suggest America should back a UK withdrawal from the union, as it would encourage a closer relationship with the US, and added that if Margaret Thatcher were still alive she would have backed a British exit from the EU.
Campbell-Bannerman is no stranger to strong points of view (quelle surprise!), having waded into the Hollande affair to share his thoughts, telling the HuffPo: “The only growth in the French economy appears to be in morning croissants and actresses' careers.”
He even incurred the wrath of Nigel Farage over the 2010 Ukip manifesto, which Campbell-Bannerman penned while he was still a member of the anti-EU party. “It was 486 pages long, I’m pleased to say that the idiot that wrote it has now left us and joined the Conservatives, so there is some traffic going back the other way, and they’re very welcome to him,” Farage said.