David Cameron's damaging association with a Polish extremist

Michal Kaminski, the Polish leader of the Conservatives' European Parliament bloc, has some embarrassing views on Jews and gays

LAST UPDATED 5:51 PM, AUGUST 5, 2009

The controversial Polish politician Michal Kaminski is currently doing more than Gordon Brown to disrupt David Cameron's procession to power next year.

Kaminski is the hard-right MEP who now leads the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) bloc in the European Parliament with the blessing of the British Conservative leader, whose party is a member of the group.

As a result, Cameron is being held up to ridicule among foreign policy advisors in the Obama White House. A Democratic Party source is quoted in the New Statesman today saying: "There are concerns about Cameron among top members of the team."

This follows extraordinarily undiplomatic comments made last week by the respected US foreign policy expert David Rothkopf, who wrote on his blog: "I used to think David Cameron was just an empty suit. But it is increasingly clear that the former PR guy... ought to be ditched at the altar both by the British people and by the Obama administration."

Rothkopf, a former under-secretary for international trade during Bill Clinton's era, was referring specifically to Cameron's backing of Michal Kaminski to lead the right-wing bloc in Europe. Kaminski, said Rothkopf, was "a more suitable choice for support by the British National Party than by Conservatives". As a result, Cameron was "someone about whom the Obama administration ought to be very cautious. A pillar of leadership acumen he ain't."

Obama himself believes Cameron is all ‘sizzle’ and no substance

It gets worse. Today's New Statesman report also reveals that Obama himself believes Cameron is all "sizzle" and no substance. This was a verdict the President apparently reached after meeting the Tory leader a year ago. It was before the Kaminski issue emerged, but it did relate to Cameron's attitude to the EU which the president is said to regard - more so than the UK - as America's key ally.

So, who is this man Kaminski, still only 37 and making waves from Warsaw to Washington? An impressive public speaker, easily recognisable in his signature glasses, he is one of the rising stars of Poland's Law and Justice party. He was a successful spin doctor for the Kaczynski brothers, the identical twins who were Poland's president and prime minister until recently.

Another of Cameron's MEPs, Daniel Hannan, has said that Kaminski is "the closest thing to a British Tory outside the Carlton Club", and in many senses, he is a logical ally for them. First and foremost, he's a vehement eurosceptic. Then there's his back story: agitating against Communism as a teenager in the 1980s, Kaminski learnt English from listening, illicitly, to Margaret Thatcher on the World Service.

But his belief in the merits of the free market goes well beyond that of most people on the British right. When General Pinochet, an earlier follower of Milton Friedman and champion of neo-liberalism, was awaiting his extradition hearing at a Surrey mansion in 1999, Kaminski paid the ailing Chilean a visit, and presented his fellow Catholic with a steel collar embossed with an image of the Virgin.

His support for dictatorship aside, there are three major criticisms of Kaminski which support Rothkopf's line that he is a more natural political bedfellow for the BNP than for the Tories. These are homophobia, anti-semitism and neo-fascism.

First, homophobia. Poland is the world's

Comments

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Having read "Kill Khalid" I think Kaminski is a good force for the EU. It would not do for europe to become another colony of the USA. but be of independent and free thinking.

Posted by Peter at 10:43am on August 6, 2009

Obama should know all about 'all sizzle and no substance'. I am not supporting Cameron, a stupid move, but Obama is backing down to the drug corps, will bleat on about Israel and more settlements, and do little - and his Secretary of Agriculture is in Monsanto's pocket. Foreign policy - following George. I believe Obama is a total washout!

Posted by James Morley at 2:26pm on August 6, 2009

It would seem that the author of this article believes that Kaminski has two failings that should immediately disqualify him for any sort of serious consideration as a political leader: 1) that he is not under the control of the gay lobby and 2) that he is not under under the thumb of the supporters of Israel. An article of this type shows just how far the "political correctness" (enforced by the EU) has corroded politics in the UK. The very same forces behind this "correctness" have virtually destroyed free speech in the USA.

Posted by John Dudley at 6:03pm on August 6, 2009

All the people criticising are left wing. I think this is the clue to the smear that underlies this story. Its the usual unpleasant and false dirt throwing of a desperate and immoral /unprincipled left wing who are facing defeat in the UK.

Posted by Man in a Shed at 8:29pm on August 6, 2009

It amazes me how easily a person can be labled "anti-semite" The term is loosing all meaning. I have seen arabs (who are semitic) being called anti-semite for criticizing (mostly european) Israel. It's beyond logic. I don't know this guy's views other than what has been printed here, but whenever I see someone so labled, I wonder why the "dark forces" want to silence or marginalize them

Posted by eric legere at 9:25pm on August 6, 2009

Kaminski is a top bloke and deserves our support, not all of us get excited about left wing rubbish. Obama's comments on Kaminski are worthless and stupid, Obama sees the US slipping while the EU is many ways is looking like the new world leader. Who wants to be a submissive servant of decaying America? It is refreshing to see so many Conservatives and right wingers coming out in vocal opposition to the neo-Marxist and their divisive ways.

Posted by Nicholas Folkes at 10:37am on August 7, 2009

If I were a Pole, I wouldn't take any lectures from the Miliband family. David and Ed's father and grandfather were notorious marxist Polish Jews. The grandfather was a traitor to his own country - he sided with the invading Red Army against his own people, and so is responsible for their slaughter. Afterwards they couldn't return to Poland, and entered UK via Belgium by lying to UK immigration officials. As for Obama, who cares what he thinks? You can write what he knows about anything on the back of a postage stamp. Run a country? We don't even know whether he knows how to run a bath.

Posted by Kevin McGrane at 2:55pm on August 7, 2009

Down here in the fens, you know, the gay lobby doesn't register. We, too, have quite a lot of family orientated Catholics and a LOT of Poles, some of whom are really quite nice people. They, unlike us, have suffered quite a lot under Communism and Naziism. We didn't have an English Belsen did we? Marta Andreasen's book shows, moreover, what happens if you threaten the EU consensus......... I have Jews in my own family and I hate it when people use anti Semitism as a weapon.

Posted by prziloczek at 5:24pm on August 7, 2009

I don't believe that homosexuals should be allowed to adopt children because of the strong possibility of the children being bullied as a result, but other than that I can't think of any problem I have with gays. I like the general attitude of jews towards education, their work ethic and the huge importance they place on the family. And I am certainly not a fascist, a fascist being someone who does not believe in democracy, instead wishing to impose their political will on others through force, bullying and intimidation. That said, I am a fully paid up member of the British National Party and proud of it. Where on earth do people get their tainted and incorrect views on the BNP from? Oh yes, the extreme left wing feminist/communist elements within the media, backed up by a super powerful handful of newspaper proprietors who have long histories of hobnobbing with Prime Ministers and don't wish to lose their favoured and influential position with the current ruling elite. Ie, The LibLabContricksters.

Posted by Jerome Peter at 9:21pm on August 7, 2009

The First Post should be applauded for providing space for the bigots on both sides of the Atlantic to vent their spleens. Phew! I felt as if I needed a bath from the one President Obama does not know how to run after reading these comments!.

Posted by Yolande Agble at 1:55am on August 8, 2009

Good selection of wingnuts here, I see. If I find anyone selling Nazi uniforms cheap on the web I'll be sure to return to let you guys know.

Posted by Innocent Abroad at 12:15pm on August 8, 2009

@James Morley: You said it. It needs nothing more adding...

Posted by hidflect at 5:56am on August 9, 2009

This man is NOT an extremist he is in the centre right and is being vilified by the euro left who are trying to turn Europe into the next USSR.This must stop people must become aware of what the likes of Blair and Brown and the rest of their sad party are trying to do to us.Britain comes first NOT extreme socalism.

Posted by ROBERT BOYD at 4:53pm on August 9, 2009

You ain't seen nothing yet! Have a look at the Latvian partners in this coalition. They are Holocaust deniers who campaign to "prove" that the Great Synagogue in Riga wasn't burned-down with all its worshippers locked inside... by LATVIAN SS TROOPS. They allow Third Reich "Memorial Parades" through Riga to mark the "heroism" of these "Latvian Legion" aka Waffen-SS troops.

Posted by Neil McGowan at 9:14pm on August 9, 2009

This goes to show how far P.C. has come. If I got into an argument and stated " The Germans won the battle of Stalingrad"or " The French won at Waterloo, would I be then locked up as a danger to society?? I think not.Most sensible people would conclude that I was a fool. Nothing more is needed!!

Posted by Seanofaus at 5:32am on August 11, 2009

So let's get this straight, we are supposed to take any notice of the comment's from a man David Rothkoph concerning David Cameron's political allies. Perhaps Rothkoph should have had better judgment when he worked for an American President who just avoided impeachment, lied repeatedly and then had to admit having sex with an intern in the Oval Office, was accused by several women of sexual harassment, and even was accused of rape by one of them. Oh lets not forget the great Presidential pardons to convicted fraudsters. Quite frankly im getting a bit sick of Americans moralising and commenting on how the rest of the world should conduct themselves, as for Obama thinking Cameron is sizzle not substance, that has given me the biggest laugh this week.

Posted by Gary O'Brien at 9:58am on August 21, 2009