UK may withdraw from European rights convention over Abu Qatada

[pampango]

5. "The Conservatives have used the Abu Qatada case to raise the possibility of withdrawing from the

convention. But they have no support from the Liberal Democrats ..." And the statement from the Labour shadow home secretary contained no indication of any Labour support for a withdrawal.

Imagine that - a conservative-run government that wants to withdraw from a human rights treaty and the more liberal parties do not support the idea. Regardless of the specifics of this case, I imagine there are many in the Tory party that have wanted to withdraw from the convention for a long time and are happy that a 'reasonable' opportunity to do so has arisen. The UK was on of the founding members of the convention in 1949. Every European country (even those not in the EU) are members.

"How dare those (other) Europeans tell us what to do. Sure we signed the treaty. But that does not mean we have to follow it. "

Of course, many in Cameron's party want the UK to withdraw from the EU not just from this convention on human rights, so any separation from those continental Europeans is a good deal to them.

Here's a link to the wiki on the convention: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Convention_on_Human_Rights

It looks like a damn fine document.