The cast iron promise from Cameron concerning a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.
A white lie or worse?
Another politician caught out lying and not doing what he promised.
Can we ever trust the man again?
And remember he did this BEFORE his has come to power.
Time to ditch him as Tory leader?

Boris Johnson as the new Tory leader?
Boris has said that he will not contest the 2012 London mayoral election.
Ready to take on the mantle of the next Tory leader after Cameron gets pushed out?

To be fair to Cameron, he always said 'as long as Lisbon has not been ratified' - but it was in the small print. Like everything else about his Tory party, the 'promise' was a triumph of presentation over substance - until the facts catch up.

The substance is there is you care to find it. Cameron always clearly stated (not in the small print as mentioned above) that the referendum on the Lisbon Treaty would have to be held pre-ratification to be of any use.

"Today, I will give this cast-iron guarantee: if I become PM a Conservative government will hold a referendum on any EU treaty that emerges from these negotiations. No treaty should be ratified without consulting the British people in a referendum." (The Sun, 2007)

He qualifies things by saying nothing should be "ratified" without a referendum - so now the Treaty has been ratified, the warranty on his "cast-iron guarantee" expires. What would be the point of Cameron, as PM in 2010, holding a referendum in which the question is posed in a pre-ratification context? That would be like being served a milky cup of tea and then being asked "do you take milk with that"?

The key now is to move forward and see what can be done in this post-ratification context, which is exactly what Cameron set out in his speech on 4th November.

Questions like "can we ever trust the man again" and "time to ditch him as Tory leader" are, quite frankly, ridiculous.

I hope for our countries sake that Cameron is a man of his word and has the backbone and intelligence to confront the EU and sort out our economic woes too.
Wait and see I suppose it will have to be, the Conservatives have already won the next election. The only thing to find out is how big their majority is going to be. The useless Labour party have already won it for them!
My prediction
Con - 400+
Lab - 150-180
Seats won in the coming May 2010 election

At the last election, the Conservatives, like Labour and the Liberal-Democrats, promised us a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. And in 2007, David Cameron wrote, "Today I will give this cast-iron guarantee: if I become PM a Conservative government will hold a referendum on any EU treaty that emerges from these negotiations."

On 26 May 2009, Cameron said, "A progressive reform agenda demands that we redistribute power from the EU to Britain ... We will therefore hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, pass a law requiring a referendum to approve any further transfers of power to the EU, negotiate the return of powers, and require far more detailed scrutiny in Parliament of EU legislation, regulation and spending."

Now he says that the time for a referendum has passed. On the back of breaking his repeated promises to hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, he makes a promise to hold a referendum on any future treaty.

He says that there would be `full parliamentary control' over the self-amending and `ratchet' clauses in the Lisbon Treaty. But he knows full well that the Treaty ends all national and democratic controls over EU bodies.

He knows full well that the Lisbon Treaty's self-amending and `ratchet' clauses give the EU powers to give itself whatever new powers it wants, with no need for any more treaties so the EU won't risk ever having a treaty again. How could we leave our sovereignty and independence to the mercy of a politician's promises?

Totally agree with you William, no need for any futher treaty to vote for, power has been transferred forever. What a bunch of weaklings we are in this sad nation of ours ( no more ).
No balls, no guts, no sense, no shame and no fighting spirit.
May God help us.
Amen.

R.I.P. dear beloved England.

Strange, seems the only way out of the EU would be for Al Qaeda to blow the European Parliament building of the face of the earth.

The Dear Leader David...?

The Conservative Con Guy is a SHAM!

Just like when he pretended he was 'feeling' for the war dead at Westminster Abbey the other day at the abbey's memorial site. It was a put-up photo-job! Talk about SPIN!

HOW INSINCERE CAN YOU BE?

Re: BORIS...

Obviously, the job has been way above what he thought he was able to deliver for true Londoners!

Tory leader...Way easier for him if that is his aim?

He'll be able to blabber and bluster his lexicon to all those Tory political Wets, Home County Hooray Henry's and Henrietta's and 'chortling Women's Union nudists' to his heart's content!

Re: David Cameron

...bit of a larf, really, isn't it that "Cameron" is a traditional Scot name?

The political implication of that's such a conundrum...

Except to say...

Could we ever expect a future Con government legislating for complete Scottish independence?

It's pretty much there already...

COME ON SCOTLAND...!

Go For Euro Integration Before Remaining UK Procrastinators...

AND...

YOU WILL STILL RETAIN SCOTTISH SOVEREIGNTY AGAINST DETRACTING ANTI-EURO GB ARGUMENT!

Con-servatives that's the truth of it, enough said.
Spinnnnnn spinnnnnn spinnnnnnnnnn every time and NO substance.
We are beggining to find out the substance of the man.
Not alot behind those weasel words, a bit like that Welsh windbag Kinnock.
I wonder if the Eton boy could lose the election too?
Cocksure and full of it, way before he has won it.

May God help us lf a truly landslide victory is achieved by the Con-servatives in May.
Remember those last days of Thatcher?
15% interest rates.
Poll tax riots.
The economy in ruins....Twice....1979/80 and 1989/90.
Thatcher the milk snatcher - She stopped our kids getting that small bottle of milk daily at school. Now that should have been a warning sign of the measure of the woman of things to come........Callous, Cold, lnhuman, Extreme.
You have been warned.
Use your vote wisely this time.