Some ultra-federalist lawyers might protest at such an interpretation. But do you really imagine that anyone would seek to push Britain out over a technicality?
The crisis wasn’t on the agenda at Cabinet this week. Some Conservative Cabinet Ministers now want a pledge to hit the two per cent goal. They are right.
The two battered main parties would do well to speak honestly about the challenges and costs we face.
There are strict limits to what we can or should do for Ukraine. However, NATO member countries are a different matter.
To Hungary and Cyprus, Putin appears to have added a third, slightly less marginal, ally – Greece. Will Spain be next?
Pretending that recent events have nothing to do with Islam is fooling no-one, and driving scared people into the arms of extremists.
If the French establishment continues to fall below the level of events, the leader of the Front National will be in a strong position to challenge for the presidency in 2017.
At the risk of stating the obvious, the targeting of Charlie Hebdo and its staff for murder had nothing whatsoever to do with western foreign policy.
It is important not to fall in to the error of imagining the two countries to be more similar than they really are.
As someone once said, “There is no such thing as society. There is a living tapestry of men and women and people”.
Plus: Pipe down, John Mann. Pipe down, Justin Tomlinson. Why I love Paris. Why France hates Hollande. Teflon Theresa May. And: Why Labour doesn’t rate Miliband.
Also: Miliband plays with Farage and plays with fire. The unGreen BBC. Jonathan Jones is a twat. Two new Biteback books. Plus: Guido’s Iranian payments to friends of Israel.
Plus: The whitest party conference I’ve ever been to; Where will Carswell sit? Bombing ISIS in Syria; and publishing a book without having read a page of it.
We should not be shy about defending human rights there. But for the country to fall into the hands of jihadist-sheltering Islamists doesn’t bear thinking about.