Merkel cuts Cameron adrift and backs Juncker for EU chief

Merkel cuts Cameron adrift and backs Juncker for EU chief: PM set to force a vote for first time after saying new president's opposition to reform is unacceptable

Angela Merkel last night left David Cameron cut adrift in his fight to stop an arch-federalist seizing control of the European Commission.

The German Chancellor threw her weight behind former Luxembourg prime minister Jean-Claude Juncker to be appointed EC president, despite Mr Cameron’s view that his opposition to reform is unacceptable to Britain.

Downing Street confirmed Mr Cameron will force a vote on Mr Juncker tomorrow at an EU summit in Brussels " the first time one has been held on the appointment of an EU chief " but signalled he will respect the outcome.

Mrs Merkel, who told German MPs it would be ‘no great drama’ if Mr Cameron is left isolated, was facing accusations of duplicity last night following reports that she had assured the PM last year that she would help him block Mr Juncker.

A Brussels source said: ‘It’s not just that she changed her mind. Britain is upset because Merkel actively pressured Cameron’s allies to switch sides.’

Image:teal bridesmaid dresses

With the possible exception of Hungary, Mr Cameron appears to have no remaining support " leaving him facing a humiliating defeat at tomorrow’s vote.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, formerly one of Mr Cameron’s few allies on the issue, also announced yesterday that he will not now vote to block Mr Juncker’s appointment as president of the European Commission.

Britain has no veto on the issue and, with the possible exception of Hungary, appears to have no remaining allies " holding out the prospect of a humiliating defeat for Mr Cameron tomorrow.

But the Prime Minister " who is said to have warned Mrs Merkel that Mr Juncker is ‘a face from the Eighties who cannot solve the problems of the next five years’ " told the Commons yesterday he would take the fight against Mr Juncker ‘all the way to the end’.

Yesterday, Mr Juncker said he was confident of securing the post but, in an apparent dig at Mr Cameron, was being forced to wait because common sense was ‘very unequally distributed’.

Two pro-EU Cabinet ministers yesterday rounded on Mr Cameron over his public campaign to block Mr Juncker, warning it risked damaging Britain’s wider relations with Europe.

Tory veteran Kenneth Clarke said the row was ‘out of all proportion’ to the threat posed by Mr Juncker, who he said was ‘not an arch-villain’.

‘No one knows what he’s supposed to have done wrong,’ he said. ‘The idea he’s an arch-federalist, a sort of public enemy number one which the media have made him in the last few days flat, is slightly exaggerated.’

Business Secretary Vince Cable also criticised Mr Cameron’s approach, saying: ‘It hasn’t been good for David Cameron.

‘I think he was right to take the position he did, but the way it’s been done, unfortunately, has not helped Britain punch its weight in Europe.’

In an arch response to Mr Cable’s comments, Mr Cameron’s official spokesman said: ‘We’re always grateful for advice, particularly 24 hours before a summit.’

But a Populus poll for the Financial Times yesterday suggested voters believe Mr Cameron is right to try to block Mr Juncker’s appointment. Some 43 per cent said he had taken the right stance, with just 13 per cent saying he was wrong.

Mrs Merkel and Mr Rutte both last night telephoned Mr Cameron to urge him to drop plans to force a vote on Mr Juncker when EU leaders meet to discuss the issue tomorrow.

Downing Street said that, despite the row, the pair had ‘underlined their support for Britain’s continued membership of a reformed European Union and their ongoing commitment to working with the Prime Minister as he renegotiates Britain’s relationship with the EU’.

Number 10 also confirmed that Mr Cameron will force a vote " the first time one has ever been held on the appointment of an EU chief " but signalled he will respect the outcome.

Meanwhile, the Lib Dem Treasury chief secretary Danny Alexander reopened the row over the potential cost of Britain leaving the European Union by claiming new Treasury figures showed more than three million jobs would be put at risk.

Mr Alexander, who once led the PR campaign for Britain to join the euro, said a new ‘Treasury analysis’ revealed that 3.3 million jobs are ‘connected to Britain’s place in Europe’.

In a speech in Washington, he added: ‘That is the measure of the risk that isolationists would have us take.’

Tory sources last night dismissed the analysis, saying it was a ‘dusting down’ of previous, discredited figures.

The Treasury declined to publish details of the analysis referred to by Mr Alexander.

Former Tory Cabinet minister John Redwood yesterday dismissed Mr Alexander’s claim as a ‘lie’.

Mr Redwood said it appeared to be a ‘rehash’ of previous claims, adding: ‘If the UK left the EU there would be a trade deal - as the rest of the EU has always accepted - because they sell us more than we sell them.

‘The claim that three million jobs would go is not news " it is not even interesting old news. It is simply a lie.’

Read more:http://www.queeniebridesmaid.co.uk/cheap-bridesmaid-dresses-uk