ABSTRACT
A new constructive European policy, including a commitment to Exchange Rate Mechanism membership, was to be a central plank of the Major administration’s governing agenda. A central aim of the Hurd-Patten strategy was to place British Conservatives in the mainstream of European politics. The bargaining position of the Major government during the Maastricht negotiations reflected Britain’s European dilemma. The scepticism shown towards European developments contrasted with the government’s continued support for American global power, most clearly evident in the extent of British support for the First Gulf War. The government, however, stuck to its chosen course and, in a speech to the European Policy Forum on 10 July 1992, Norman Lamont ruled out either a cut in interest rates or leaving the mechanism. European political modernisation was in essence flawed, fundamentally anti-British and potentially aggressive. Major emphasised a vision of the European Community as one of independent nation-states within a single market.
