Stop the Untouchables. Justice for Sergei Magnitsky.

Political carve-ups

European Voice

The British Conservatives are managing to sideline themselves and in the process could become embroiled in some political nobbling.

It is easy to mock British Conservatives for their phobias. But their friendships are odd too. In the Council of Europe they are in the oddball European Democrats Group (EDG), along with Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party, the Ukrainian Party of Regions (the party of the Viktor Yanukovych regime), and Turkey’s AK Party. The British Tories cannot link up with their natural and historic allies in the mainstream centre-right parties, because these are Europhiles and therefore unspeakable.

This weakens Britain’s influence in Europe. It also increases Russia’s clout. The Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) may sound like a useless talking-shop, but it elects the body’s president and secretary-general. These positions, both up for election this year, set the tone for the Council’s approach on human rights. As the skies darken, this is ever-more important.

In 2008, Russia nearly succeeded in getting Mikhail Margelov elected as the PACE president. An amiable and eloquent bruiser, he has spearheaded the Kremlin’s counter-attack against its Western critics. He nearly won, because it was the EDG’s turn to have the top job (it rotates between the various groupings) and United Russia had persuaded the Tories to support their candidate.