Strategy behind Tory EU campaign

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By Gary O'Donoghue Political correspondent, BBC News

Mr Cameron's search for new partners in Europe has been mocked by Labour

European elections are seldom about Europe and this one is no different.

But party leaders have never gone quite so far as David Cameron has in explicitly turning the campaign into a referendum on domestic matters, with his demand that the campaign be a clarion call for a general election.

It's a strategy that has some merit from the Tory point of view.

Europe has always been a divisive issue within the party, though in recent times the old arguments have been somewhat quieted.

And Labour's unpopularity means that it makes good political sense to try and focus on Gordon Brown's record rather than difficult questions over the future of the Lisbon Treaty.

Or, indeed, which right wing parties the Tories are planning to hop into bed with once they form their new right-of-centre block after this week's poll.

On the first point, the party continues to promise a referendum on Lisbon, hoping against hope that the Irish will again say 'no' when they are asked for a second time in the autumn.

But if the treaty gets ratified in all member states, then there's still no real answer from the party as to what it would then do - just the rather vague and unsatisfactory suggestion that they "wouldn't let the matter rest there".

On the second point, leaving the European People's Party (EPP) is a bold move and something David Cameron announced when he ran for the party leadership.

Search for partners

At the time it helped enormously with his eurosceptic credentials.

But it's proved a difficult process finding the right partners.

After all, the rules say that you can't form a new block unless you have MEPs from at least seven countries; and Labour has worked hard at finding crackpot quotes from some of those the Tories are planning to hook up with.

The party has also had to deal with problems over expenses among some of its MEPs.

Last year Giles Chichester, its leader in the European Parliament, and its chief whip, Den Dover, both resigned over the matter.

And while Mr Chichester was cleared of any wrongdoing, Mr Dover ended up being expelled. Hence Mr Cameron's insistence that all candidates sign a pledge this time round and agree to publish all their expenses online.

Having said all that, the Tories can afford to feel reasonably confident this time around.

Despite coming top of the poll in 2004, they only got 27% of the vote, just a year before they crashed to their third general election defeat in a row. Things are very different now.

The big danger for the Tories, of course, is that having made this a surrogate general election, low turnout and apathy may see that call go unendorsed by the people even if they top the poll, which they should do.

But if they do get a thumping great vote of confidence, and Labour slump to third or even fourth place, they will feel it sets them up nicely for the 'real thing' whenever it comes.