Introduction

At the beginning of the twenty-first century it appears difficult to envisage that enthusiasm for European integration was ever a significant strain in Conservative thinking and policy. Yet Conservative administrations were at the vanguard of Britain’s bid to become a member of the European club: from Winston Churchill’s battle cry for a united Europe in 1946, through Macmillan’s 1961 European Economic Community (EEC) application, to Heath’s successful accession in 1973 and then with Thatcher’s and Heath’s support for the ‘Yes’ campaign in the 1975 referendum. Subsequent Conservative administrations have committed Britain yet further to the integrationalist path with the acceptance of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) and the Maastricht Treaty. To explain how, and why, the party has undergone such a reversal in attitudes is the principal purpose behind this book. It will offer a fuller appreciation of the political world in which Conservative European policy has been framed and pursued since 1945. It will explore the shifting stances inside the party within an economic, political and international context as the Conservatives adjusted to the decline of Britain’s world role and the loss of empire. The analysis blends the high politics of Westminster with the views of the party’s wider activist base.