It can’t hurt to ask

A familiar story was played out in Brussels last week. A British prime minister entered the conference chamber vowing he would not give one inch to the European Union. He emerged a few hours later having given way but nonetheless declaring a ‘spectacular’ victory. It was John Major and Maastricht, Tony Blair and his ‘red lines’, all over again. How quickly David Cameron has settled into the role expected of him by Brussels. To pretend that he is happy to be giving away an additional £450 million a year to the EU. To sound the bugle of triumph, no matter what the outcome.

To his credit, Mr Cameron did not pretend to be pleased about his latest instructions from the continent: to grant prisoners the right to vote. After debating the topic for decades, it turns out that it doesn’t matter what anyone in England thinks. The European Court of Human Rights has decided that it must be so, and Cameron says he does not have the money to fight it.