As I sat down after making my remarks, the leader of the bloc to which Tory MEPs are allied, the European People\’s Party (EPP), rose to say that he\’d run out of patience with me, and that he wanted the EPP to expel me.
Chatting to me afterwards in the aisle, he said: "I don\’t care if you make your protest for a referendum in Britain. But you will not do it from the floor of the parliament as a member of my party". Fair enough, I said: there did seem to be some serious ideological differences between us. "Not differences, incompatibilities," he replied. If anyone was still wondering why David Cameron wants to leave the EPP, there is your answer.
Why not leave now?