Michael Howard, the new leader of the British Conservatives has, by the dismal standards of the Tory party, made a reasonable start to his job, but one of his most recent moves is, coming from a veteran eurosceptic, quite simply incomprehensible. A couple of days ago he decided to reactivate the link in the European ‘parliament’ between the Conservative Party and the nauseatingly eurofederalist grouping known as the European Peoples Party (even its name, bogus, contrived and with more than a touch of East Germany about it) reveals this as one party which it isn’t worth going to. To make it worse, now that Howard has taken this step (which will bring no rewards, either political or electoral), the row that will (and should) follow will once again enable the Tories to be portrayed as a party obsessed with ‘Europe’ to the exclusion of all else. Dumb, dumb move, Mr. Howard.