BACK in 2006 … I was selected to represent the Conservative Party in South Dorset.
I was told later that one of the reasons I got the job was because I had showed I had an independent mind, not least on this vexed question of the EU.
Then, my battle cry was: “We want our country back.”
Little did I know at the time that Ukip would adopt the same slogan some years later!
To some my call to arms might seem simplistic … little Britain even … inward looking … doors tightly shut.
But nothing could be further from the truth.
I want our beloved country to thrive … to trade freely with nations across the world … for her people to choose the rule-makers … for our proud island nation to retain her sovereignty.
Without it … we will be rudderless … vulnerable to those who would subjugate us … and take away our identity.
The Federalist dream is nothing short of a nightmare … a giant protection racket.
Total control would ultimately have to emanate from the centre … with edicts of an increasingly Orwellian nature being churned out by unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats.
You only have to look at the Eurozone – a complete basket case - to see the effect of closer political and financial union.
The evidence is there for all to see … but somehow no one acknowledges it.
The victims are ignored as debts running into billions of euros continue to pile up.
Where … oh where … has common sense gone?
It seems to me that perfectly rational and intelligent political leaders say one thing before they gain power and quite another after.
I think Chancellor Merkel has an underground dungeon … where anyone who reveals even an ounce of scepticism about the EU is taken.
There, they are forced to listen for hour upon hour to EU gobbledegook before … begging for mercy … they are taken to the banqueting hall where they sign away their souls dining on Chablis and lobster!
It was 40 years ago last week that we last voted on the EU … then it was about a common market … it all sounded so innocent … so innocuous.
Today, we are dealing with a very different beast.
It makes many of our laws … tells us what to do and how to do it … fines us if we do not comply … trumps our courts … forces us to keep our borders open and ignores our protests if and when we do.
I warmly welcome and applaud the Prime Minister’s endeavours in the renegotiations … and I shall be watching with interest …
So, too, will the millions of voters … who we represent in this house – and let’s not forget that … who put their faith in our Party to deliver an in/out referendum.
And we must not forget the four million voters who voted for Ukip, a party founded explicitly to leave the European project.
We owe it to them all to strive for meaningful concessions that repatriate powers to this country, not least control of our borders.
However, the early signs that this referendum is going to be fair are not encouraging.
Cancelling the period of ‘purdah’ is not the answer.
It’s been a long standing principle of democracy that votes should not be bought by the side with the deepest pockets.
The Electoral Commission has already stated that it’s ‘disappointed and concerned’ at the proposal to allow public funds to be spent on political campaigning.
I must agree.
We have already witnessed numerous opening shots from vested interests – in particular the giant corporations for which the EU creates subsidies.
If the government machine and the European Commission are freed from spending restraints, these early shots will become a barrage, and democracy will be the casualty.
We keep saying that the public are fed up with politicians and here’s another example which undermines their trust.
Ironically, the EU was established in part to prevent another world war.
Or that’s what we are constantly told by Europhiles.
But I would say that it will have the opposite effect.
As the economies of those countries in the Eurozone straightjacket continue to fail, we will see more unrest across Europe … not less.
It is time to end this experiment and set countries and their people free.
Yes we can work and trade together … and must … but a federalist state is a masterclass of delusion.
I … we … want our country back … and this referendum is a chance in a lifetime to achieve that aim.