ABSTRACT
When Tony Blair’s Labour government was elected in 1997 it came to power promising a more constructive European policy that would distinguish it from previous British, and especially Conservative, administrations. In common with predecessor governments there was talk of British ‘leadership’ within the EU. The purpose of this chapter is to consider whether indeed New Labour succeeded in convincing Europe that Britain was now a willing European; to consider the extent to which the Labour administrations of Blair, and then Brown, were able to shape and influence the EU in a British vein; and to question whether Labour has succeeded in shifting a reluctant British public towards greater approval for the European Union. From the outset Blair had one significant advantage over his recent predecessors, namely the relative Labour party unity on Europe, which left him in a stronger position to pursue the twin strategy of protecting Britain’s national interest in Europe whilst pursing a British agenda in Europe. Yet at the point New Labour came to power it inherited a situation in which it appeared as though Britain’s world influence had collapsed: Major’s government had ended up carrying no real credibility with the Clinton administration in Washington whilst in Europe Britain’s impotence was typified by the Major tactic of non-co-operation in response to the ban on BSE-infected beef whilst the EU deliberately delayed the final rounds of the Treaty of Amsterdam negotiations until after the British general election, hopeful that this would bring a new more amenable Labour administration to the table.
