UK Tories in parliament elect new leader

Tory MEPs in parliament have ousted their leader in a move some brand as a 'lurch' towards Eurosceptism.

Giles Chichester, the group’s industry spokesman, was elected leader on Wednesday, ousting Tim Kirkhope, who had held the post for three years.

Chichester said, "I am honoured to be elected and look forward to carrying on the good work done by my predecessor.

"I should like to emphasise that this 'changing of the guard' of chairmanship after three years does not signal a change in direction.

“We Conservatives in parliament will continue to strongly support David Cameron in all he is doing to secure Conservative victory at the next election.

"I look forward to planning with the leader of the party a strong and positive campaign for the next parliament election."

The group leader has to face a re-election contest every autumn.

Kirkhope was unavailable for comment but his failure to get re-elected surprised some UK MEPs.

ALDE leader Graham Watson said, “This surprises me because I see Chichester as being more on the eurosceptic side of the party than Kirkhope.

“It will be seen as an anti-European move and suggests that the eurosceptics in the parliamentary party are getting the upper hand.”

He believes the change of leadership means there is a “much greater chance”  of the Tories leaving the European People’s Party after the next European elections in 2009.

Gary Titley, leader of parliament’s UK Socialist group, said, “Surprisingly, both Kirkhope and Chichester declined to commit to making a public statement in favour of party leader David Cameron's commitment of leaving the EPP group.

"Neither candidate was prepared to back their party leader's policy on the withdrawal of the Tory MEPs from the EPP group.

“This shows that even Cameron's own MEPs do not approve of being sent into the political wilderness by a party leader who does not understand how the European Parliament works." 

A Tory party spokesman said that plans to pull the group out of the EPP-ED after 2009, and form a new group, were "still on track."

In other elections, Philip Bushill-Matthews was elected as deputy chairman of the delegation.

Syed Kamall was elected as treasurer while Richard Ashworth and Christopher Beazley were elected to the Conservative delegation bureau.

• Previous article
• Next article