Bye bye Rebate, bye bye

The hard won EU rebate was signed away last week, did you hear about it on the BBC or in much of the MSM? Charles Moore wrote a nice piece about this for Saturday's Telegraph that I think you should read.

The article starts "This week, almost unnoticed, the House of Commons voted to increase hugely the amount Britain pays to the European Union. From now until 2014, the British net contribution will be £5.5 billion each year. Under the previous framework, our net contribution was £2.8 billion." and continues to point out the perfidy of Tony Blair and suggest possible reasons why he might have followed the path that did.

"Just after he won the last election in 2005, Mr Blair was very much the popular champion. "The EU rebate will remain," he declared, "and we will not negotiate it away. Period."...Yet in December 2005, Mr Blair negotiated the rebate away. Period."

"In the last five days of the negotiations, Mr Blair's Government conceded an extra one billion euros to be spent on EU administration in order, as Parliament was later told, to get "a political consensus for an agreement". The Commons vote this week implements all this."

Charles Moore suggests that the concession was made in order for Tony Blair to clear the way to be the first President of the European Council. Could that be the case? Could Tony Blair have sold out the UK in order to further his position and income? I think we all know the answer to those questions...