ABSTRACT
Only since its return to opposition in 1997 has hostility to further European integration become enshrined in official Conservative policy. Before that date the party’s leadership had consistently portrayed it as the pragmatic party of Europe. Yet amongst its broader ranks the party has contained a significant portion who are at best indifferent to the European project and at worst openly hostile. Internal party assessments suggested that even those who toed the leadership line ‘are unable to put over convincing arguments for joining’.2 This poses the question of how, and why, the party leadership successfully pursued a European agenda against the wishes of many of its membership.3 This would appear to confirm the perception that the Conservative Party is an oligarchy handing policy down from on high. The suspicion exists that the leadership has deliberately sought to keep the European debate at an ‘elite’ level, and has been fearful of allowing the issue to become a populist discussion point. However, it will be suggested that the leadership has often lacked courage over Europe, feeling inhibited by the perceived hostility of its own supporters. The leadership has not so much led the party as reacted. This has resulted in a position whereby, in the considered view of Lord Cockfield, ‘public relations about Europe has a very long way to go, and perhaps more in the UK than most other countries’.4 In order to assess this state of affairs, it will be necessary to explore both the rhetorical message and the practical ‘selling’ of that vision.
