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Britain and the EU: the story of a very rocky marriage
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/23/referendum-britain-and-the-eu-the-story-of-a-very-rocky-marriageMake no mistake. I am heartbroken about this result for many reasons - as anyone who professes to be liberal or progressive should be. But this article, written before the Brexit vote, contains a lot of information that people should know about. Now, unfortunately, we know the result.
Buoyed by a confidence in its own exceptionalism, by memories of a great empire and a glorious war, Britain was after all a major power, with a seat on the UN security council, a special relationship with the US, and a Commonwealth. Detached from the continent physically and culturally, it did not need Europe, and showed it by sending a mid-ranking trade official, one Russell Bretherton, to the treaty signing – as an observer.
By the early 1960s, though, Harold Macmillan, the prime minister, had realised the mistake (it’s the trade, stupid) and started making overtures towards Brussels. (Labour, seeing it all as a capitalist plot, was anti: the party’s then leader, Hugh Gaitskell, railed against the loss of “1,000 years of history”.)
But this time the brush-off came from Europe, or more specifically France. In 1963, Charles de Gaulle said “non”. Britain had “very special, very original habits and traditions”, he said, and was “very different from continentals” – it would prove an Anglo-Saxon trojan horse in a European stable.
Faced with such a cruel, if prescient, put-down, Britain, in the shape of poor Macmillan, wept (literally). It was not until 1973, four years after De Gaulle departed, that Britain – by now headed by the convinced European Ted Heath – finally got it together with Europe.
By the early 1960s, though, Harold Macmillan, the prime minister, had realised the mistake (it’s the trade, stupid) and started making overtures towards Brussels. (Labour, seeing it all as a capitalist plot, was anti: the party’s then leader, Hugh Gaitskell, railed against the loss of “1,000 years of history”.)
But this time the brush-off came from Europe, or more specifically France. In 1963, Charles de Gaulle said “non”. Britain had “very special, very original habits and traditions”, he said, and was “very different from continentals” – it would prove an Anglo-Saxon trojan horse in a European stable.
Faced with such a cruel, if prescient, put-down, Britain, in the shape of poor Macmillan, wept (literally). It was not until 1973, four years after De Gaulle departed, that Britain – by now headed by the convinced European Ted Heath – finally got it together with Europe.
