ABSTRACT
The first half of the 1970s saw perhaps the most profound revolution in British foreign policy in the twentieth century. In January 1973, after intense parliamentary debate, Great Britain joined the European Community. This was the achievement of Tory premier Edward Heath. But the Labour party remained deeply divided and, after its return to power in February 1974, Wilson ‘renegotiated’ the terms of entry and then submitted them, in June 1975, to an unprecedented national referendum. The two-thirds majority in favour gave Britain’s membership of the Community a popular mandate.
