It’s been a while since David Cameron had to give such a difficult feedback statement to the House of Commons after a European summit. Even his last tricky address, on his failure to block Jean-Claude Juncker as president of the European Commission, could at least be spun as the Prime Minister valiantly standing up for the right principle. But at this afternoon’s session in the Commons, the Prime Minister will face complaints from MPs not just about how impossible Europe is but about how some parts of the Westminster machine knew about the so-called unexpected bill but others did not.
So the questions Cameron will face will be: can you avoid paying this bill? Who can we blame, not just for the original situation, but the fact that officials apparently failed to pass the information on? Doesn’t this show that European leaders are out to get Britain and won’t help in a renegotiation? What about Angela Merkel’s apparent rejection of the possibility of reform of freedom of movement at the same summit (not a surprise to anyone who heard her speak to Parliament earlier this year)? And a new question: is Whitehall going to hold us back in a renegotiation? If it failed to prepare Cameron for this unexpected expected bill, then what curveballs can our own machine of government throw at the Prime Minister when he tries to renegotiate?
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