Looks like President Obama has put his foot in it. Friends, allies and partners care for one another. They are usually careful when and how to offer advice and support. And, when they do, they do it without publicly showing off one another. This is exactly what Mr Obama failed to do. As an ‘ally’ and a ‘special friend’ he should have been a little more sensitive about Britain’s feelings and considered them before speaking out, but he did neither.

By sticking his nose where it doesn’t belong and telling the BBC “having the United Kingdom in the European Union gives us much greater confidence about the strength of the transatlantic union” Obama didn’t only show his arrogance he also confirmed his lack of diplomacy and his inability to handle matters of Foreign Affairs.

A true friend would have carefully considered the matter before expressing their view. A diplomat would not have interfered at all.

The issue of the EU membership is for the British people to decide and not anyone else to tell them what they should or should not do. Interfering in this way shows a lack of precaution and a selfish desire to put his country’s interest before ours. Which is understandable, after all he is the president of the United States. But it is insulting. It is offensive because he sees the UK as only useful in speaking to all the countries of Europe so he doesn’t have to.

There are many bad things about the Obama presidency. But for Britons Obama will be remembered as the self – important president that caused the most damage to the special relation of our two nations. Personally, I’m glad his term will soon be over. January 20th, 2017 cannot come soon enough.

When I read Adam Afriyie is plotting to replace David Cameron as leader, my initial reaction was shock laced laughter. Not because Adam is not capable of leading the party – more than most the other suspects paraded around since 2010, Afriyie is the candidate I can actually see myself getting excited about. But, as described by many, including Tory MPs, he is very loyal and will never sanction such a move. So wherever those Sunday pieces came from it wasn’t him.

Which makes you wonder, who is behind them and why now? Especially, as only a week ago David Cameron promised the country an EU referendum, one of the main issues dividing the Tory party. Cameron’s ratings are at their highest and because of it Labour is in a real fix. Therefore, whoever made that move is a loser!

The winner has to be the Prime Minister himself, for managing to drive Labour into utter confusion and media management frenzy. Since last week’s PMQs exchange – where Ed Miliband categorically promised he will not give the British public a referendum on the EU – Labourites haven’t stopped telling us ‘but what he (Miliband) meant is no referendum for now’

Cameron is clever; with one announcement he pacified Tory eurosceptics, pulled the rug from under UKip and sent Labourites into a whirl of back pedalling and justifications – when what he promised was only too obvious and was coming sooner or later!

Love the timing, the content and the effect Cameron’s EU speech had on everyone form the party faithful to the opposition and everyone in-between. Party poopers might say it won’t have happened had it not been for UKIP putting pressure and Tory Eurosceptics rebelling – but who cares? If that was the nudge Mr Cameron needed, then hurray. Both did well. Nonetheless, David Cameron has always been a pragmatic Eurosceptic and this speech was coming one way or another.

Regardless of when the Prime Minister gave the speech, the EU issue needed addressing. Our relationship was/is becoming difficult and at times even toxic. With the economy in turmoil and every nation inside and outside the union is looking for ways to survive and improve for the future – addressing our relationship is part of the collective reforms everyone in the region is undergoing. The EU question might for some be at the bottom of their list of important issues – but when many decisions are still made and governed by Brussels – the cost of these issues becomes very important.

Some people see the speech as a gamble, but I disagree. And here’s why. On the domestic front, Cameron has one, pulled the rug from under UKIP – they can no longer goad the Tories on the referendum issue. And two, Miliband’s Labour has ruled giving the British public any referendum – some Labourites would like us to believe this ‘No EU Referendum’ promise is just for ‘now’ – but I think it is safe to say “Labour Denies Britain a Referendum” has a nice ring to it come 2015.

On the international stage, the US and Obama now know their place. As for Europe, now, they have little choice but to take us seriously, listen to the British people and try to at least meet half way. When it comes to those who think Britain is ‘not that important’ and Europe will not care if we leave or stay – better think again. We are extremely important, Britain is vital to the union in trade, defence, agriculture and fishery. If in doubt, just check the French’s reaction to the speech. The EU and the world know and appreciate our importance, its high time we too know and embrace it.

But most of all, by being on the side of the British public David Cameron has put the Conservative Party and conservatism in a strong position separating it from Labour and the others.

Tory Eurosceptics can now relax and rally behind their leader, after all we have an economy to fix, promises to deliver and an election to win outright and none of that is possible with a disunited party.

I wonder can one be surprised but at the same time not surprised?

Well I am. Surprised at the way the LibDems are going on about David Cameron’s EU speech. Because nobody has heard it yet and although everybody is anticipating what he might say, we won’t really knows until he says it. But the way they are going on about it, you’d be forgiven for thinking Cameron has already announced the date of the UK pulling out of the EU! I am also ‘very’ surprised because I seem to remember during the last parliament they supported an In/Out referendum!

But, at the same time, I am not surprised they changed their tune. One because they are still very sore over losing the AV Referendum – bizarrely, they somehow seem to think Tories promised to fully back AV or just handed it to them! Since then it seems, anything that might throw off the Tories LibDems will fully support. Plus they tend to change their mind a lot.

However, will not be surprise with more reneges between now and 2015.

Talk today and for the coming few days will continue to be about Cameron’s relationship with his parliamentary party, the rebels and the EU referendum. And even though the government won last night’s vote, the focus will be on the Prime Minster and the high cost of his three line whip. Because out of the 111 who voted Yes for a referendum, 82 are Conservatives – and out of that two resigned their government post to vote with their conscious.

And although, on the night, there were some Labour defiance no one will care much about it!

Firstly, the three leaders were wrong to whip this particular vote. They might feel triumphant in their unity and sharing a common ground. But on this occasion they confirmed to the already very skeptical public why our politics is broken and politicians of all hue are disconnected and clueless about what people want and how they feel.

Of course most of Britain, today, is not concerned with the European project beyond “Not With Our Money” when it comes to bailing out members of the €uro! But, the fact still remains that the e- petition was set up to give the public and their backbenchers a voice and the chance to debate the issues that interest them. It did not stipulate what topic or issue should be debated, it just said petitions that reach 100,000 signatures could be debated by MPs in parliament and could possibly be put to a vote. That is why whipping this vote was wrong and a disgrace to our politics and our democracy.

It didn’t at all surprise me that Miliband and Clegg denied their backbenchers a free vote, one is a borderline communist who spent a great deal of his time dictating how people should lead their lives and the other will do and say whatever it takes to be in power and who’d blame him ‘opportunity tends to knock only once’

But for the Prime Minster, who can with a hint and a whisper sway many careerist to vote NO, did not need to put his stature on the line. Especially when Conservatism is founded and built on trusting people to know what’s best for them and believing they can achieve it. What’s more, the e-petition, the Prime Minister’s own initiative, was set up for that precise reason!

We all know it is human nature to rebel when pushed into a corner. That is why I suspect, had the PM gave his MPs a free vote; the no vote might have been much less than 82. Many Tories, including MPs, are already unhappy about aspects of the coalition and think the LibDems have disproportionate powers in this partnership. That kind of feeling if allowed to fester will make an already challenging situation impossible. Cameron should have used last night’s vote as a pressure release and gained brownie points with his backbenchers, grassroots but mostly with the 100,000 citizens who bothered to sign the petition.

The politicos are very excited over next week’s EU referendum vote plus there seem to have unity at the top!

With Cameron’s clear signal (PMQs yesterday) that he is against a referendum and now Ed Miliband is said, he intends to whip his MPs to vote against it too. Talks of a split are inevitable, especially when it is a Tory split. Surprisingly, or maybe not, there isn’t a whisper from our coalition partners – I get the feeling they will altogether just sit this one out!

We, Conservatives, have always had a complex relationship with Europe – Cameron and all other leaders knew it – it is the main reason Ken Clarke as charismatic and adorable as he is never managed to get past the first ballot of any leadership contest.

So, will a referendum on Europe split the party? Of course it will for a few a days or so!

However, Tories are disciplined enough to fall back inline and do what’s best for the country and the party – there will unsurprisingly be a few defections here and there and some big figure or two will use this to shine or God knows what…. but in time it will simmer down and will be business as usual.

If we put to one side all the figures, stats and the boring math and just look at the emotional, trust and human nature side of it, we’ll find that 1) the issue of the EU is very politicocentric, most folks outside the SW1X postcode don’t care one iota about being inside or outside Europe unless they are directly touched by it (fishery, farming, some business regulations or by some stupid human rights directive that came down from the continent) and 2) there are too many daily challenges (bills, job security and the daily trials and tribulations) for most people to have the energy to deal with much beyond what they need to cope with.

But having said that, the EU is an itch that will keep on itching until someone scratch and sort it out – neither ignoring nor excusing it will make it go away.

My advice to Cameron will be – don’t whip the vote on Monday. Your MPs (and almost everybody else) know what you think and want, trust them to put this issue to bed once and for all. Especially now that Miliband has jumped on the whipping bandwagon – at least this one is still moving!