Britain stands alone...

Well, I never thought I would see the day that David Cameron grew a set and stood up for Britain against the the hoards of the Fourth Reich!

This column has been critical of Cameron in the past. I have applied to him the most damning word in the English language : 'disappointing'. I have criticised his actions in denying the people of this country the EU referendum that he promissed in his manifesto. I have so far been unimpressed.

But in refusing to sign away British sovereignty and the right to set our own tax rates and budgets, Cameron has taken the right decision. The city of London provides more than 50% of the financial services in the EU. Agreeing to a financial transaction tax wold have neutered the city and 58% of our economy. It is a vicious economic attack. There is no way he should ever have agreed to this and he didn't.

The Prime Minister has come under considerable pressure from the Reich to sign up, and he refused. He was 100% right to do so. President Sarkozy called this 'unacceptable' - but to whom? To the Reich maybe, but certainly not to the people whom he represents. It takes true bulldog spirit to say 'No!' under this sort of pressure, and despite my doubts Cameron seems to have what it took.

There have been comments this morning that this excludes Britain from the mainstream of Europe. That there is now an inner core and that the EU is a two speed institution. I don't believe the former and would point out that even if the latter is true, one should not assume that the Eurozone core is necessarily the fast track whilst we are in the slow lane.

There is already a two track EU - those in the single currency and those outside it. This has not changed. Cameron says that there will be no need to put any of this to a referendum because there has been no alteration to the existing treaties. He is quite right. I also suspect he knows that if he had betrayed our national interests and signed up for this new treaty, the British people would be unforgiving. Had he been forced to sign up, then the choice was simple - wreck our already fragile economy or quit Europe. The only real choice would surely have been the latter.

This has been a considerable coup for the Reich. As in 1940, Britain risks being seen as a lone voice in the wilderness. Churchill experienced this, and he was right. I believe that history will prove that Cameron is also right.

In 1940, Churchill was named Time magazine's man of the year. The citation read "He gave his countrymen exactly what he promissed them." Last night David Cameron did exactly the same.

How refreshing...