Perhaps if David Miliband is so disgusted with the Conservatives being in the same political bloc as the Latvian Fatherland and Freedom Party, he should first consider his own partners in the European Socialists group which includes its own delightful splattering of racists, homophobes, ex-terrorists, conspiracy theorists and neo-Nazis.
Of course, that isn't how things work in Europe. Probably for the reasonably noble purpose of fostering at least some pan-European political feeling, there are massive benefits to being part of one of the European Parliament's political blocs. Being a diverse and interesting place, inevitably Europeans do elect a fairly large number of oddball politicians to the European Parliament - not to mention our latest additions - which creates a problem. We either work with them as best we can, or cast ourselves into European political obscurity.
Either way, it is a constitutional matter for the EU, not an issue of petty British political oneupsmanship.
