ABSTRACT
Between March and April 1967, Wilson managed to convince his Cabinet to accept not only the European application, but that this application should be virtually unconditional. The reasons for Cabinet’s acquiescence have been the subject of some controversy. One view argues that the Cabinet was steam-rollered into acceptance, denied a rightful channel to express their views and never fully informed of the true extent of Britain’s transition. Both the President of the Board of Trade Douglas Jay and the Minister of Transport Barbara Castle agreed that the Cabinet was ‘ruthlessly stage managed’ in order to secure a ‘yes’ vote to a second European application.1 This argument reflects a deeper malaise with the place of European membership in British political life. Never told what European membership would ‘mean’, ministers and public alike were duped into dumb acceptance of membership by a political class determined to protect its own interests.2
