2009年，他下令保守党MEP退出欧洲人民党（European People’s Party，泛欧洲的中右翼政治势力集团 ） ， 此举剥夺了保守党在欧洲议会的一切影响力，而保守党现在已与派系主义者和反启蒙主义者处在同一阵营中。
When, in 2009, he ordered the Conservative MEPs to withdraw from the European People’s Party, the Europe-wide grouping of center-right political forces, he merely deprived the Tories – now consigned to sit with the sectarians and obscurantists – of any influence in the European Parliament.