Miliband hedging on a Tory government?

Yesterday David Miliband (who, to be frank, I've fallen a little out love with) ruled out becoming the EU foreign minister if David Cameron doesn't support Vaclav Klaus so he feels obliged to sign the Lisbon Constitutional Treaty.

David Miliband has ruled himself out of taking a senior role within the EU, while endorsing Tony Blair for the new post of European president.

There have been suggestions the foreign secretary may become the new EU high representative for foreign affairs, to be created under the Lisbon Treaty.

But Mr Miliband told the BBC he was not "available" to be a candidate.

However at a speech at the International Institute for Strategic Studies he spent his time talking about how absolutely vital it was that we become a satellite state of a federal Europe run by grey suited twonks in Brussels.

"It is very strongly in the British national interest for the European Union to develop a strong foreign policy," he said.

"To be frightened of European foreign policy is blinkered, fatalistic and wrong. Britain should embrace it, shape it and lead European foreign policy."

Well, quite. I mean, look how useful our EU countries are when it comes to the alliance of nations fighting in Afghanistan. The Belgians, well. Sometimes they stick their head out the door of their compound and of course they can't lend us any helicopters because they don't have the equipment or the training. Why's that? I hear you ask? Because the EU have given them jobs to specialise in.

They've recently ruled out sending extra troops to assist with the conflict even though that's what's needed to lessen the opportunities where Terry Taliban can creep out and lay IEDs.

European defence ministers expressed reluctance yesterday (28 September) to send more troops to the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan, anticipating their response to a possible US call for reinforcements.

Rather than send reinforcements, several EU states want to focus resources and efforts on training the Afghan military and police, defence ministers meeting for informal talks on the west coast of Sweden said.

Like EUPol are doing: sitting in their air conditioned offices in Kabul whilst the Afghan police take bribes not to search lorries? I'm not making that up - a journalist stood for hours on a check point watching it happen.

There is one point Miliband made which I do entirely agree with:

"The truth is that there is a deception here at the heart of policy - a deception of the country that you can hate Europe as it exists today and remain central to European policy making," he said.

Quite right. It's in or out.

Of course Mr Miliband is so terrified of what the public think that he and his vile cronies vote against giving us the opportunity to decide our own future.

They appear to think that this country is theirs to give away.

It's not. And I hope that we can remind them of that at the next election.

I suspect that given his gushing praise of the position which he has been linked with perhaps his refusal to be a candidate isn't so strong and he himself knows that the Labour Party will be in opposition for a few years.