A fringe party

Meanwhile, while Westminster is busy confirming its corruption in the election of a new Speaker, the UK Conservative party has announced that it is withdrawing from the European People's Party - the Conservative pro-Europe bloc it sits with in the European Parliament - to head a new European Conservatives and Reformists Group. In the process, it has gained some new friends. For example:

• The Latvian For Fatherland and Freedom Party, who are so "patriotic" and anti-Russian they honour the Waffen SS as "heroes" who fought for Latvian freedom;
• The Polish Law and Justice Party, which is notoriously homophobic and antisemitic.

So, Latvian Nazis and Polish bigots, the lunatic fringe of Europe. No decent political party should be seen dead with these people. But the Tories are embracing them. Which just shows: on Europe, they're a fringe party.