The Conservative faithful are in Birmingham this weekend for the party conference. But Julie Girling, a party member for four decades and member of the European parliament, will not be joining them. It was not a shock. The vote was mostly symbolic, only six Tory MEPs were in the chamber, but when the result emerged, the response was swift.
Finally on Tuesday the two rebels were expelled. Her vote was never meant as a political statement, she says. The vote was only a sign of a deeper estrangement between the remain-supporting MEP and a party that had mostly embraced Brexit. I am just not allowed not to agree. After the June vote, Girling reluctantly supported the leave result that many of her constituents had voted for. Girling joined the Conservative party as a student, starting her career at the carmaker Ford in , the year Margaret Thatcher came to power.
Cameron made a terrible mistake, she says, by pulling the Tories out of the EEP of Angela Merkel and Jean-Claude Juncker, to set up a new group with Polish nationalists and fringe parties. Girling and Ashworth joined the EPP this year, a move encouraged by continental politicians keen to embrace the symbolism of the British returning to the fold. For now, she thinks the prime minister has backed herself into a corner. While many EU diplomats hope May will have room to make compromises after the party conference, Girling is less convinced.
Jennifer Rankin in Brussels. Expelled, MEP reveals deeper estrangement from a party that has mostly embraced Brexit. Mon 1 Oct Read more.
