DAVID Cameron last night brushed aside a last-ditch plea for unity from Angela Merkel as the row over the choice of a new EU Commission President deepened.
Angela Merkel called up David Cameron in plea for unity[AP]But Mr Cameron vowed to “take it all the way to the end” in his battle against giving the veteran Brussels fixer the role as head of the Commission, which runs the Brussels bureaucracy.
Mr Cameron heads to Ypres in Belgium today for the start of what is widely expected to be a bitterly divided EU summit.
On the eve of his departure, he repeated his pledge to force an unprecedented vote among EU leaders to register his opposition to the choice of Mr Juncker from Luxembourg.
“I think it is important on this issue to stand up and speak for what you believe in,” he told MPs at Prime Minister’s Questions.
“I also think it is important that the people involved understand that we need reform in Europe. It does not matter how hard I have to push this case, I will take it all the way to the end.”
Chancellor Merkel and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte both rang Mr Cameron yesterday to try to resolve the row.
He told them his position “would not change” and both leaders conceded that the vote will go ahead even though Britain is almost certain to be isolated.
An opinion poll by pollsters Populus yesterday found that 43 per cent of voters thought Mr Cameron was right to oppose Mr Juncker getting the job
A Downing Street source insisted the Prime Minister was ready to rip up the “decades-old tradition of gentlemen’s agreements” in Brussels about the top job.
The source said: “We think the European elections sent a message that voters want change, more focus on the issues that matter to them like growth and jobs, less interference from the EU. That means having the right person running the Commission.”
Mr Cameron was facing dissent in Coalition ranks over the row however. Tory minister Kenneth Clarke, a veteran enthusiast for the EU, defended Mr Juncker yesterday.
“He’s been turned into an arch-villain. He’s not an arch-villain,” said Mr Clarke.
“No one knows what he is supposed to have done wrong. The idea that he is an arch-federalist, a sort of public enemy number one is slightly exaggerated.”
Lib Dem Business Secretary Vince Cable also voiced misgivings about the Prime Minister’s position. “It hasn’t been good for David Cameron,” Mr Cable said, although he conceded that the Prime Minister’s stance had been “right in principle”.
An opinion poll by pollsters Populus yesterday found that 43 per cent of voters thought Mr Cameron was right to oppose Mr Juncker getting the job.
And it emerged that even leading figures in Mr Juncker’s own country were not relishing his expected appointment.
A senior lawyer said: “Luxembourg’s elite thinks he would be a bad president. He’s a bad organiser, he’s a bad manager, he’s too political. He’s not the kind of guy who likes heading a bunch of technocrats.”
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