In his speech on immigration the prime minister has a chance to show some leadership on the issue and on Britain’s place in the EU. He has tried running from his Eurosceptic backbenchers. He has tried throwing them bones. He has tried ridiculing Ukip, then imitating them. For David Cameron none of it has worked. This week Owen Paterson, his former environment secretary, even suggested the prime minister hand the EU a resignation letter from Britain before his renegotiation had even started. That is not a negotiating tactic. It is a notice to quit.

It is time to confront the argument that we need to pull out of the EU because of the free movement of people. Leadership is about standing up for Britain as a confident outward-looking country open to people, ideas and investment and keen to be a leading player in the EU and globally. It is about making the most of the world as it has changed in recent decades, not looking for a rewind button to a world that no longer exists.



Cameron’s struggles on this issue remind me of when Labour had a problem with the Militant tendency. In the 1980s Labour’s youth wing had been captured by what was, in effect, a different political party. Their loyalty was to themselves and their own ideology. Their modus operandi was the impossible demand, and anyone who resisted them was instantly branded a traitor. Impossible demands. Betrayal and treachery. That summed up Labour’s Trotskyists.



It took a while for senior Labour figures to appreciate just how dangerous this was, with some dismissing Militant as “just young and idealistic”. Thankfully, this naive attitude was not shared by Neil Kinnock, Labour’s leader at the time. He saw the dangers and his decision to take on Militant at the 1985 Labour conference was the start of our party’s long journey back to power.



Facebook Twitter Pinterest A member of the Militant Tendency speaks to the crowd at a demonstration in 1990. Photograph: Associated Newspapers/Rex

Today, David Cameron has his own Tory Trotskyists on his backbenches. Like the old Militant, they have a highly developed sense of betrayal. And like Militant, they scarcely pause to glance at any concession thrown their way because nothing will satisfy them until they have achieved their single goal – in this case Britain leaving the EU.

One idea after another has been floated by ministers or ex-ministers. Everything from limiting national insurance numbers to ending the principle of free movement itself. Cameron seems happy for all of this to be out there in the hope it will show his Militant tendency, that he “gets it”. Yet little or no thought is applied in No 10 to what this is doing to our position as a country or how, piece by piece, it leads Britain closer to the exit door.



The prime minister’s strategy is not just mistaken. It is also failing. Pandering to the Tory Militants merely increases their appetite. They sense he can be pushed. And no matter what he does to get them off his back, they will never be satisfied until they have achieved their goal. Nor is he convincing the public. Rochester was the second byelection loss in a row to Ukip. For the prime minister, surrender isn’t working. And for the country, it poses huge dangers.



The rest of the EU wants Britain to stay but many are getting fed up with Cameron’s antics and coming round to the view, as Angela Merkel’s recent comments showed, that perhaps arguing for Britain to remain as a member is becoming more trouble than its worth.



That is bad news for Britain but many of Cameron’s backbenchers, and some in his cabinet, don’t care. Reports suggest a growing number of cabinet ministers now want out of the EU. They revel in the thought that the rest of the EU won’t try to keep Britain in. They want him to fail.



But Britain’s workers, employers, potential investors and all of us who value Britain’s place in the world have reason to care. While Cameron manoeuvres to keep peace in his party and stave off the threat of Ukip, at stake are millions of jobs and businesses, hard-won rights of people at work and our position as a confident, outward-looking country. This debate must be about that future – Britain’s future – not just the management of the Conservative party.



Leadership is not always about pyrotechnics at EU summits or staying one step ahead of the posse. Sometimes it is about facing down elements within your own party in the interests of your country. Labour learned that long ago. Britain’s immigration and Europe debate is now a critical leadership moment. It is time Cameron took on his Tory Trotskyists.

