In yet another political gift to the UK Independence Party (UKIP), British Prime Minister David Cameron has come out in favour of Albania becoming a member of the EU. The move will eventually allow free movement of people from that impoverished, poorly-educated, crime-ridden country into Britain – despite assurances by Cameron as recently as last December that he would block the admission of any more countries until the EU agreed new stringent conditions on the movement of people.

The enormous migration into Britain from the impoverished countries of Eastern Europe is one of the issues which led to the Conservative Party’s defeat in last month’s elections to the European Parliament, when Nigel Farage’s anti-EU “people’s army” beat the Labour Party into second place and Cameron’s Tories into third.

UKIP, hoping to win seats in the House of Commons in next year’s general election, will be delighted Cameron is now seen to be willing to allow the people of yet another poor country have EU-guaranteed access to British jobs, housing, education, health service and welfare.

Top Tories are furious at Cameron’s U-turn.

David Davis, who was a candidate for leader of the Conservative party in 2005, told the Sunday Times: “I would argue you shouldn’t allow any other countries in until we’ve got free movement put onto a qualification rather than a time basis. In other words, until they have got their income and other things up to a certain level.”

Albania is not only poor, but infamous for corruption, people trafficking and organised crime.

In 2012 Albania, which has a Muslim-majority population of 3m, was recommended by the European Commission for status as a candidate for membership of the EU. The commission’s policy is eventually to have every country in Europe under the control of Brussels, a policy which has antagonised Russia.

A decision will be taken at the European Council meeting on Thursday and Friday, when the heads of state and government will decide whether to put Albania on the final path to membership.

No country can join the EU with agreement of every existing member state and the agreement of the European Parliament.

As recently as last December, Cameron said he would block Albania from joining unless there were stringent conditions on the movement of people. He said the application of Albania was a “real opportunity” to insist on a different approach.

Conservative MPs are angry the prime minister is now ready to abandon Britain’s veto and agree to Albania proceeding towards membership without any changes having been made to the free movement of people guaranteed under treaty law.

This U-turn will feed fears among eurosceptic Tories that Cameron’s promise to negotiate the return of substantial powers from the EU to Britain is equally unreliable.

Already Cameron’s opposition to Jean-Claude Juncker, euro-zealot former prime minister of Luxembourg, as next president of the European Commission, is beginning to look synthetic.

Brussels cynics are now reckoning that Cameron and German Chancellor Merkel, who does not want Juncker in the top post either, but has been boxed in by her party, are playing out a pantomime in which Juncker will be dropped after rigged-up “intense negotiations” so that Cameron can proclaim a “victory.”

Meanwhile, whoever becomes president of the commission will be just as much a euro-zealot as Juncker, only more discrete in his determination for the EU to hold on to all its powers and return none to member states, much less to the irritating and uncooperative “Anglo-Saxons.”