Political Seismic Shock across Europe

At least one senior Tory politician has realised what the new party Liberty GB has been saying since its inception a year ago.

From "European elite's refusal to accept change is fuelling extremism, warns leading Tory", in today's Daily Express:

Former Defence Secretary Liam Fox believes there will be "a seismic shock" across the continent as support grows for parties such as France's National Front and the Freedom Party in the Netherlands.

In a speech due to be delivered to the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Williamsburg, Virginia tomorrow, Dr Fox is expected to blame EU leaders for the rise in extremism, as politicians are failing to represent the fears of the electorate properly.

He is due to say: "The heavily cosseted and pampered European political class in Brussels are only too willing to blame the citizens of the EU for the rise of political extremes on both left and right of the spectrum.

"They seem congenitally incapable of asking themselves whether it is their behaviour and their political brittleness that is the primary driver of this process."

It seems obvious that Fox sees what he calls "rise of political extremes" as something to be avoided, and I agree with him if he refers to communism and fascism.

But, from his references to the Dutch PVV and the French National Front, I suspect that he considers as extremism the totally legitimate and wholly natural resistance of European populations to being invaded, colonised and Islamised.

This confusion is useful to the Conservatives, though, as they can proclaim to be the bulwark against both real extremism and, more importantly, the much more likely electoral threat posed to them by the emerging parties that don't ignore but represent people's worries about immigration and Islam, of which Liberty GB is a still small but unwavering example.

The article ends thus:

Dr Fox's comments come after a ComRes poll published yesterday shows the Conservatives are set to finish third in May's European elections, with Ukip winning the vote.

Commissioned by the Independent on Sunday and Sunday Mirror, the poll puts Ukip on 30 per cent of the vote, Labour on 28 per cent and the Tories on 21 per cent.