Is Cameron a hero or a buffoon?

Very interesting and thought-provoking as ever, Parchy.

I rather think he was in a bit of an impossible situation - damned if he did, and damned if he didn't.

Personally, I think he did the right thing. The City is, after all, very important to our pensions and investments, so it's in our interests not to have new taxes imposed on it by Brussels.

Just as an aside, I wouldn't be too quick to cast Boris as the Court Jester. He's a highly intelligent man!

I have listened intently on the news about this today and I have to say that, in my opinion, only time will tell. Cameron is certainly well respected within the tory vote and I guess he's like Marmite, you either love or hate him. Europe, like the rest of ther world, is in a complete mess and I truly believe that while fate will dictate the outcome, the stance of one country in the matter will have little or no effect. So with that in mind, I have to give Cameron creedance for standing his ground.

At this present time Britain is still a self governing sovereign Nation. We always have been and hopefully will always be so but if Brussels gets its way, which lets face it is Germany who is pulling the strings, we will just be a vassal state or an Island which is then part of the United States of Europe. We fought world wars to keep our freedom, we must be very careful not to lose it. Trade with Europe, be friends with Europe but to be ruled or dictated by a foreign power is nothing short of treason. It must never, never, never happen. If we allow our sovereignty to be transferred to Brussels what legacy are we leaving the next generation and the one after that. They will turn around and curse us for our negligence.

There is only one solution to Britain's future and that is full repudiation of all treaties and withdrawal from the E.U. totally. In 1938 we stood alone and fortunately we had the man of the moment in the form of Winston Churchill who said "we shall never surrender". That's as important today as it was then. Yes it will be a bit rough going for a few year's but then this Country will bounce back like a coiled spring. We will be able to set up our own border regulations, allow our farmers to do what they know best and also save our fisheries from desolation. We would be able to negotiate on a world platform, not just a small European one and beg forgiveness from the Commonwealth Countries whom we have turned our backs on over these years but to their credit they still want to be friends with us.

The future is ours but we must stand up for what we truly believe in. FREEDOM.

I think he did the right thing.

The burden of the financial tax that the Merkozy duo's fourth reich wishes to levy would fall principally on Britain's shoulders and would be spent mainly in the 17 Euro states.

The taxes paid by the institutions would translate into increased fees for the UK population - i.e. no more free banking, higher loan interest rates, lower savings rates - while the reduced UK government tax intake (as banks left our shores) would result in raised income taxes.

We're better off imposing our own levy on the banks and spending it on the UK (as is currently happening).

What's more, once out of the EU we won't be subsidising a corrupt European Parliament (whose finances their own auditors won't sign off!) nor indolent French farmers via the CAP and we won't have to contribute to keeping the PIGS afloat. Just imagine: no more UK MEPs on the gravy train, French farmers actually having to work for a living and overspending nations having to keep their own economies in order. It's the way to go.

We can then strengthen our ties to the Commonwealth (note that Canada, Australia and India have been doing rather well despite the recession) while remaining part of the EEA (thus retaining our preferential trading arrangements with the EU). We can even make ties to other economic blocks such as NAFTA.

Basically, I'm saying we're better off out of Europe.

one must not forget that: 1. Britain is in a 2nd and even worse recession, like the rest of Europe and most of the world in general, 2. Britain and the EU must be likened to 2 households wanting to have a common economy and market. To do that you must have a harmonisation of the 2 household economies or else it would collapse like a house of cards. In other words you can not have one household spending more and the other less or the reverse one earning more the other earning less. The Euro and the European Union itself will collapse if the parts that form it pull away from each other and hence there is no cohesion. How for instance can one member country have different tax rates rather than another? Would not the one country with lower tax rates be attracting more foreign investment than another? And so on and so forth.
One should not leave in a cockoo land and be realistic. Do we need the EU or do we let it split up? That is the question.

I believe the truth lies in between. He is niether a hero nor a buffoon. He is not a hero of this great country because as you correctly said he did NOT do it for the country's sovereignty but for square mile. He had to veto but did so in completely the wrong manner in terms of PR(shocking when his expertise is a PR executive).Cameron should have months and months ago court political support from countries who are skeptical to further EU political and monetary union such as Sweden,Czech republic and Danemark instead of unleashing to everyone at the table with this veto at the last minute. He was never going to be supported at the negotiating table when he was the one under extreme pressure to agree with the rest. He totally FAILED to do his homework which explains further why he is NOT a good Prime Minister but Ed Miliband would be a worse one.

Whether we are marginalised or not will only be seen over time. Twenty twenty hindsight would have kept UK PLC out of all this mess and prevented Tony Blair (sorry folks needed the name for effect) from being elected and thus stopped UK PLC losing much of the rights we now strive to have returned. Mr Cameron did what he had to do on the day - we should stand behind him and support his decision and give him the confidence to defend us from the "Merkozi" attempted takeover.

We are weaker now. We are now the only European country to veto now that Hungary has changed its vote. United we were strong.....

It appears that the door on our total involvement in the emergence of a new treaty isn't firmly closed and that sometime next year another opportunity will arise for us to 'influence' certain European outcomes.

Europe really do like us especially for the monies we contribute, which have been estimated at £50 million per day.

It seems that all European leaders have been politically posturing to appeal to their electorate in their respective countries and Cameron is no different, he needed to shore up his staus with disenchanted backbenchers, who see him (Cameron) as a lame duck leader!

I think that what he did can't be good for the longterm benefit of the country as The Sun has totally endorsed his position!! However, the need to visually show him as a latter day Winston Churchill is quite pathetic. Neville Chamberlain, now your talking!!

I get the feeling that Nick Clegg thinks Cameron is a buffoon!

Hi - Thanks for your contributions on the subject of our Country's inclusion in the E.U. It is most gratifying to know there are patriots still amongst us. I wish I could communicate with someone who could honestly tell me what significant benefit we, in Britain, gain from our membership of the E.U. because after reading many books and watching programmes on the television I find that this Country is being used as a milch cow - anything that goes financially awry out goes the message oh! Britain has money we will create a law whereby we have to contribute huge amounts of monies, monies which our own Country can benefit from.

Far from waxing lyrical on this subject, for those who are genuinely interested and wanting to know more on the subjects may I suggest two excellent books which are inexpensive and obtainable from the Internet. Both books are very informative and very addictive. The first is written by Dr. Lee Rotherham entitled 'Ten Years On', Britain without the European Union with a forward by Trevor Kavanaugh and epilogue by Frederick Forsythe obtainable on The Tax Payers Alliance Web site.
The second book (very frightening if one loves one's Country) is Vigilance, a defence of British liberty, written by Ashley Mote and obtainable on his own web site.

Finally, don't have nightmares after reading this book.

no heroes now , but i don't think he do something too bad !
we still go ahead !

Love him or hate him. The man stood his ground on something he believed in.

I did feel slightly sorry for him after his statement though as he did look like a lost soul amongst the rest of them, a little bit like 'Billy No Friends'.

All that has been agreed is that something needs to be done and that all the other countries agree that they intend to support that 'something'. When the new treaty is written (as agreed by Germany), it may well be that some other countries will not sign it. When we see the contents of that treaty then we will be able to judge Cameron. Who is to say that the treaty, once seen, may or may not be acceptable. There is nothing to say that the UK could not sign up then.

I hope we don't ever sign up to fiscal union without having a veto.

The Country can breathe a huge sigh of relief....
Chancellor Angela Merkel tells German MPs the UK will remain a strong EU partner, despite its decision not to sign up to an EU summit deal.

Nick Clegg and his Liberal-lites but must be one very happy party.

Such assurances from Merkat make a referendum the only solution! Simples!

Today The Sun, and despite this being a Murdoch comic they often have a direct link to the Cabinett Office and even more so to the Prime Minister, are reporting that David Cameron will sign a new treaty after the EU have watered down certain conditions with so many other countries expressing concerns.

Now if this is true and the word 'treaty' is used in this document doesn't Cameron have to hold a referendum in order to sanction his? That is what he promised but will he now backtrack on this promise like he and the Liberal Demoncats have changed their manifesto pledges as the mood takes them. Sorry, when it's in the self...opps! national interest.

a bit of both

we should not be in the eauropean union as it does not work and the united kingdom should be governed by its own people and not laws from brussels cameron is their puppet

as a united kingdom we are better of i would vote to go out of the eauropean union we never should have been put in by our goverment in the first place

i agree we are in a poor position as there are only a few british owned manafacturers left as for the veto its a mess