Irish "No" Hero Declan Resolute in Westminster
Victorious “No” campaigner Declan Ganley is in London tonight doing a bit of a victory lap and setting out his plans should the EU decide to press ahead regardless of the democratic will. He spoke from the heart, not as smoothly as a politician, he listened patiently to a critique from Sir Michael White which lasted almost as long as his own speech (though it ended with a question mark). He was firm, in a room full of Eurosceptics he maintained his own pro-European credentials, stating that he wanted a democratic, peaceful Europe. He said he was perhaps Brussels-sceptic. He advocated turning the 2009 European elections into a referendum.
There was much laughter when Declan predicted that the Europhile Irish Times journalist would report that he was speaking to a room full of CIA backed Eurosceptics at an extreme right-wing British think-tank. He was speaking at an event hosted by the centrist Policy Exchange think tank and liberal pressure group Open Europe. When a hostile questioner identified himself as from the European Movement, Declan pointed out, to the amusement of the crowd, that his organisation actually was financed during the Cold War by the CIA.
