Nice New Chums

In his effort to place Britain at the heart of Europe, Daveybloke the Cuddly Conservative seems to be cuddling up to some rather less exalted bits of meat. Daveybloke has just spent a cosy weekend in Warsaw with denizens of the Law and Justice Party, whose Polish initials form the gratifying acronym PiS. The Law and Justice Party, of course, has about as much to do with law and justice as the Conservatives with conservation or Labour with working for a living. It is run by Jaroslaw and Lech Kaczynski, a pair of identical twins so far enamoured of Popery that even the Guardian calls their party militant rather than staunch. In government, with Jaroslaw as Prime Minister and Lech as President, they managed the sublime feat of irritating both Germany and Russia at the same time, and Jaroslaw subsequently suffered an electoral defeat. The party and its friends believe that global warming is not happening (I am sure Daveybloke will be happy to consult with the oil companies on this issue), that homosexuality is a "pathology" (Daveybloke believes in family values) and that the EU is a "neo-totalitarian" regime (Daveybloke has waxed macho in the past on the advantages of a strong police force). As befits a moderniser, Daveybloke stood in a cinema alongside Jaroslaw and Mirek Topolánek, leader of another good acronym in the Czech Republic, and celebrated the new, dynamic, forward-looking right-wing alliance in true British fashion, by reminding the foreigners who won the war.