The saddest bit of news for the Tories from Euro results night was Martin Callanan losing his seat. The chairman of the European Conservatives and Reformists group is getting a lot of deserved support today. Paul Goodman makes the suggestion that he should be Dave’s choice for EU Commissioner. His case is a convincing one:

“He was a driving force behind making the ECR group work.  He knows how the Parliament and the Commission work.  Downing Street and Conservative MPs know him.  His Euro-sceptic views are long-standing, deeply-felt and real.  His centre of gravity on Britain’s membership is roughly the party’s centre of gravity.  Yes, he has just lost a Euro-election.  But he won three others.  One of our present commissioners, bless her, has never stood for election at all.”

James Kirkup agrees:

“Mr Callanan was a Conservative MEP and the leader of the Tory group in the Parliament until this week when he lost his seat. He’s well respected in Brussels and popular with party colleagues: just the balance needed to do the job as Mr Cameron hopes to undertake his great renegotiation. And he’s a very decent, modest man, as shown by his various interviews following his defeat. Really, Mr Cameron could do a lot worse than Callanan for Commissioner.”

Callanan is a good man, whose defeat was the price of UKIP splitting the vote on the right. The PM will struggle to find a better choice…