Even after 70 years, it doesn't take much to get the British press to refight the second world war
Even after 70 years, it doesn't take much to get the British press to refight the second world war. So, when David Cameron walked away from the table in Brussels last week, he triggered a predictable torrent of wartime rhetoric and headlines. On the Today programme, perhaps prompted by a Daily Mail article, John Humphrys put one of the most famous wartime images to Labour's David Miliband in a discussion about the single currency. "Very well – alone," suggested Mr Humphrys, referring to David Low's iconic 1940 Evening Standard cartoon after Dunkirk in which a solitary British soldier shakes his fist at the approaching Luftwaffe, implying that something similar now faces Britain after Mr Cameron's walkout. To his credit, Mr Miliband dismissed the parallel between fascist assault and the efforts to save the eurozone as the delusional comparison it is. Yet the fact the parallel was drawn at all is indicative of the very English – not Scottish – hysteria which has developed since Friday and which, only 24 hours ago, appeared to set the scene for a parliamentary day of destiny when Mr Cameron reported to MPs.
In the event, the Commons exchanges were significantly more nuanced than the apocalyptic mood of the weekend. Mr Cameron defended his actions without apology, but also gave reassurances about Britain's place in Europe. Some of these are worth repeating for the record . "Our membership of the EU is vital to the national interest." "We are in the European Union and we want to be." "I am absolutely clear that it is possible to be a full, committed and influential member of the European Union and to stay out of arrangements where we cannot protect our interests." Those words are less convincing in the light of last week's events. But it is significant that they were uttered. Mr Cameron did not back down from what he did on Friday – and was neatly skewered by Ed Miliband for it – but nor did he present it as the harbinger of a new isolationism. Nor was there any attempt to further embarrass the absent Nick Clegg. Liberal Democrat questioners were mostly more pained than pointed. Even some of the Conservative party's Europhobes seemed to moderate their language. One Tory backbencher, Nicholas Soames, worried about the impact of the walkout on UK business.
These added up to a significant shift. Mr Cameron did a foolish thing on Friday, not the brilliant one which his party celebrated at the weekend. He is clearly nervous about the forces he has unleashed. Part of this is about needing to keep the coalition together; to that extent, the Lib Dem weekend outpourings had a hand in yesterday's more restrained Tory tone, even among backbenchers who cannot stand the coalition. Another part of it is about the anxieties voiced by Tories like Mr Soames and Lord Heseltine, as well as by an increasing array of senior business figures including the CBI's John Cridland, who warned yesterday that uncertainty about the UK's position in the EU threatened British jobs; sensible pro-European Toryism is not quite as dead as it is sometimes painted. A further part, it seems reasonable to suppose, is because detailed polling, including some of Lord Ashcroft's, may suggest the Tory party is dicing with danger by appearing more concerned about Europe than about the bread-and-butter issues that voters worry about.
These are early days in assessing the long-term impact of what happened in Brussels. Mr Cameron's walkout went down a storm with his party, but the recognition that he is marching Britain towards Never Never Land seems to be gaining ground now. Yesterday's Commons exchanges were the voice of a parliament which, for all its bluster, does not embrace isolationism. There is more momentum now behind re-engaging than disengaging. Quite right too. Mr Cameron should never have left the table. Now he must be made to return to it.