Right here, right now...

I'm sorry, but the Conservative Party in this country has finally lost the plot.

Now, some of you may think they lost it a long time ago, indeed some of you may think they never had it, but to my mind this lastest idea is the worst yet.

Long gone are the heady days following the election of David Cameron, who was supposed to present an "electable" party, following the example of good ol' Tone, bringing the party into the centre of the political spectrum after eight years marooned on the far right under Hague, IDS and Howard.

However the idea to pull out of the European People's Party seems to me the clearest example that that is not the case. The EPP has, among it's membership, most, if not all, of the mainstream, and many of the smaller, centre-right parties in the EU.

The interesting thing is that the Tory MEPs, those with greater contact with the EPP, don't want to leave, but Central Office appears determined.

The most worrying thing is that by leaving, the Conservatives are likely to have to choose their associates from among those politicians with more extreme points of view.

Members of the EPP, such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French "Présidentiable" Nicolas Sarkozy have said they'd cut ties with Cameron if they leave, to which William Hague, the Shadow Foreign Secretary, has said they'll not change decisions " by people threatening us".

That maybe, but the whole thing still strikes me as a really bad idea for a party that wants to get back into government.