What we will have lost is the greater prize of a far more achievable European IR. We have been fighting the wrong battle.
Hopefully, the two will not prove mutually exclusive; and there's no fundamental reason they should if the IMCR campaign is focused on its retention as a UK-only rating.
If they do conflict, however, it's too much to hope that the vocal masses in support of the IMCR will appreciate how much more important an FAA-style IR could potentially be to European GA, if (and that's a massive 'if') it were conducive to achieving anything like a US percentage of IR-rated private pilots across Europe. Sad to say, this is a once in a generation opportunity that could be blown if the puerile level of argument exhibited in February's Pilot Magazine encroaches on the EASA debate.