"Vote for us first, we'll tell you our policies afterwards" - Libertas UK chief

[mccafferty cat]

In line with previous foreign escapades, Libertas' main dramatis personae in the UK seem far from savvy, and seem to have little (if any) grasp of political reality.

Speaking to a genuinely puzzled Mark Mardell of the BBC, the head of Libertas in the UK Robin Matthews made some extraordinary comments:

But how would they bring more democracy to the EU?

"Give people a clear platform and give them a chance to vote for you knowing that because of your pan-European approach, you can bring democracy to the heart of Europe," he explained.

But what does this mean? Electing the European Commission, or electing the new European Council president as Libertas founder Declan Ganley believes?

"What ever you do with elected commissioners or an elected commission, they must be accountable to the people. Libertas is seeking such a mandate at the ballot box and that is our first task before we look at exactly ways to reform the commission, president or what ever," Mr Mathews said.

There was a lot more in this vein. Mr Mathews's argument was that Libertas could deliver a vote across the entire EU, and that would bring more democracy into the system. But, he was unwilling or unable to suggest how do this.

Mr. Mathews seems to think that the pan-European electoral strategy of Libertas will - in and of itself - lead to reform of the EU. This ignores the fact that most existing EU political parties (EPP and the Socialists primarily) adopt the very same approach.

Mr. Mathews also seems to be saying: "Trust us - we'll come up with the detail after you vote". The extraordinary thing is, this is EXACTLY what Libertas accused the "Yes" parties of running with during the Lisbon campaign

[mccafferty cat]

Mr. Matthews, in his previous job in Helmand, once said that the Afghan military campaign was "delivering a better life, and progress, to the Afghan people."

It seems a perfect irony, then, that his political career should begin within 24 hours of Barack Obama's admission that the US/UK alliance could conceivably lose the war in Afghanistan.