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Reluctant European - Britain and the European Union from 1945 to Brexit (Hardcover)
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Reluctant European - Britain and the European Union from 1945 to Brexit (Hardcover)
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In 2016, the voters of the United Kingdom decided to leave the
European Union. The majority for 'Leave' was small. Yet, in more
than 40 years of EU membership, the British had never been
wholeheartedly content. In the 1950s, governments preferred the
Commonwealth to the Common Market. In the 1960s, successive
Conservative and Labour administrations applied to join the
European Community because it was a surprising success, whilst the
UK's post-war policies had failed. But the British were turned down
by the French. When the UK did join, more than 10 years after first
asking, it joined a club whose rules had been made by others and
which it did not much like. At one time or another, Labour and
Conservative were at war with each other and internally. In 1975,
the Labour government held a referendum on whether the UK should
stay in. Two thirds of voters decided to do so. But the wounds did
not heal. Europe remained 'them', 'not 'us'. The UK was on the
front foot in proposing reform and modernisation and on the back
foot as other EU members wanted to advance to 'ever closer union'.
As a British diplomat from 1968, Stephen Wall observed and
participated in these unfolding events and negotiations. He worked
for many of the British politicians who wrestled to reconcile the
UK's national interest in making a success of our membership with
the sceptical, even hostile, strands of opinion in parliament, the
press and public opinion. This book tells the story of a
relationship rooted in a thousand years of British history, and of
our sense of national identity in conflict with our political and
economic need for partnership with continental Europe.
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