Cameron's allies vote to embrace Merkel's political foes

Charles Grant of the Centre for European Reform said the vote [of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) bloc to ally with the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) in the European parliament] will not help Anglo-German relations “that were pretty bad before this point” over Mr Cameron’s outspoken objections to Mr Juncker.

“The Tories are having to understand that Berlin won’t bail them out when they need help,” he said. “The British need to get real on Juncker. They have almost certainly lost the battle and need to start negotiating a good deal.”