Former European Commission staff member (warning bells should already be going off) and veteran Tory MEP James Elles has gone tonto, lambasting Eurosceptic Cameron critic Dan Hannan. The frothing, swivel-eyed Europhile calls for Hannan’s immediate dismissal:

“There is the substantive question to debate about the evolving nature of the European Union, the Eurozone and its relationship with the outside world. But the fact that Dan Hannan uses the platform of a major daily (see Daily Mail 8 May), saying that ‘the idea that we can renegotiate with the EU is pure fantasy – and voters will never fall for it’ is no less than nauseating. Here is someone running for reelection for the European Parliament next year, who is also Secretary General of the Alliance of European and Conservative Parties, well ensconced in the electoral system. He should be sacked immediately in this role, otherwise it shows that anyone in the Conservative Party can contradict the leader of the Party with impunity and get away with it.”

And so the civil war begins…