Kaminski looking more toxic by the article.

Nick Cohen in Comment is Free made a right old scathing attack on Cameron yesterday:

When he (Obama) wants to speak to a European leader, will he call Merkel, who can connect him to the Europe which values democracy and human rights, or Cameron, who can connect him to the Europe which abhors gay elephants and has difficulties with Jews?

The Europe which abhors "gay elephants and has difficulties with Jews" is the one that also apparently votes for such parties as Law and Justice in Poland- one of whose number, Michal Kaminski, now leads the UK Conservatives and Unionists in the ECR grouping in the European parliament.

An attempted defence of Kaminski today in the Daily Telegraph is, to be honest a more disturbing follow-up than the original, slightly hysterical, polemic:

"I have never done anything improper or that I should be ashamed about. Indeed, I have spent a lifetime supporting the Jewish community in my country."

Which reads very much like, "How can I be anti-semitic, some of my best friends are Jewish"- which may or may not be true (corroborating evidence and soon would be helpful if he’s going to follow that line).

But the fact that this kind opf topic is even being discussed about (Rabbi Barry Marcus, of the Central Synagogue in London, has called on David Cameron to severe all links with Kaminski) is, or, at least should be, worrying for a Conservative leadership wishing to portray themselves as a modernising force for change. It’s a situation also that you would have expected the Conservative blogosphere to be paying much more attention to, but other than Conservative Home (which linked into the DT article), as far as I can see, nothing.

Update:

As I said, it's getting worse by the article

In Poland, he continues to cause alarm at the highest levels of Jewish society. Now, the chief rabbi of that country, Michael Schudrich, tells me: "It is clear that Mr Kaminski was a member of the NOP, a group that is openly far-right and neo-Nazi." Asked about the Tories' new alliance with Kaminski, the chief rabbi said: "Anyone who would want to align himself with a person who was an active member of NOP and the Committee to Defend the Good Name of Jedwabne, which was established to deny historical facts of the massacre . . . , needs to understand with what and by whom he is being represented."

Also in Poland, Rafal Pankowski of the Holocaust campaign group Never Again said: "Kaminski has an extreme-right background. To have him, of all people, the chairman of a group that legitimises far-right tendencies across Europe, is somewhat ironic. [Especially] for a leader like Cameron, who domestically opposed the BNP, for example . . . I would call on David Cameron to sever links with Kaminski."

In London, Rabbi Barry Marcus of the Central Synagogue told me: "Any politician of any political party should have the moral courage to clearly distance themselves from those who espouse and promote anti-Semitism, racism or any attitude that fosters intolerance." And, in Paris, the European Jewish Congress said: "We remain extremely vigilant. We have communicated [our concerns about] this to the president of the EPP [Wilfried Martens] and the new elected parliament president [Jerzy Buzek, the former Polish prime minister]."

Of politicians such as Kaminski, the congress told me: "We know them to make racist comments even in parliamentary gatherings. We are alarmed at the fact that they are given a venue to be outspoken." And he called for British Jews to express their concerns to the Conservative Party. "I would call on the British Jewish community to contact David Cameron over this."