As Paul wrote earlier, ConservativeHome is glad the German AfD party has joined the ECR group in the European Parliament.
Not only is it an alliance with a decently eurosceptic party, but the ECR is now cemented as the third largest EP group.
But while we’re happy, it’s fair to say Number 10 is anything but.
Despite the inevitable Labour claims that the result shows Cameron can’t control his MEPs, I gather he actually persuaded the majority of them to vote against the AfD.
That the Germans were still voted in is down to the fact that Tory MEPs do not make up the majority of the ECR.
Looked at like that, it seems encouraging that the wider group, drawn from a variety of countries, is true to the its founding, anti-integration purpose even when a Tory leader is not.