The idea seems to be to use the next treaty talks to strike a grand bargain: Britain will be helpful to those states wishing to establish a fiscal union among themselves if, in exchange, we can amicably derogate from the aspects of the EU which we dislike. Daniel Hannan Read Quote
When you repeat, in that wooden and perfunctory way, that our situation is better than others, that we’re ‘well-placed to weather the storm’, I have to tell you that you sound like a Brezhnev-era apparatchik giving the party line. Daniel Hannan Read Quote
Prime Minister, I see you’ve already mastered the essential craft of the European politician, namely, the ability to say one thing in this chamber and a very different thing to your home electorate. Daniel Hannan Read Quote
You cannot carry on forever squeezing the productive bit of the economy in order to fund an unprecedented engorgement of the unproductive bit. Daniel Hannan Read Quote
Whenever the debate moves on to hard numbers – our deficit with Europe, our surplus with the rest of the world, our Brussels budget contributions, the tiny part of our economy dependent on sales to the EU, the vast part subjected to EU regulation – Euro-enthusiasts quickly shift their ground and start harrumphing about influence. Daniel Hannan Read Quote
A trillion here, a trillion there and pretty soon you’re talking about real money. Daniel Hannan Read Quote
New fathers, political prisoners, traumatised presidential aides, resolute schoolboys, MEPs addressing unfriendly chambers – we all find that Shakespeare has magically anticipated our precise circumstances. How he was possible, I still don’t understand; but there isn’t a day I’m not grateful that he speaks to me in my own language. Daniel Hannan Read Quote
Progressives and conservatives alike lean, unconsciously, towards particular conclusions, and then scrabble around to rationalise those conclusions to themselves. Daniel Hannan Read Quote
The populists always fail in their own terms. Let me be more specific, the protectionists always fail. They always end up delivering the sharpest fall in living standards to the people who are their biggest supporters. Daniel Hannan Read Quote