ABSTRACT
The very early settlers travelled from northern and eastern Europe, in search of good agricultural land or in retreat from hostile invasion. The three themes, protection of the frontiers, defence of trade and maintaining the European balance of power have been constants in British relations with the outside world. Both Churchill and Bevan praised the idea in the wake of World War II but in time it seemed they saw it as good for the rest of Europe but not for Britain, which had its 'proper' place at a much bigger table, along with the USA and the USSR. A close companion of decency, justice and liberty and peace was the idea that Britain was a 'world' rather than merely a regional 'European' power. By the 1980s a 'Euro-sceptic' faction in the ruling Conservative Party had developed, which grew as successive treaties strengthened with the Maastricht Treaty in 1992, became the European Union (EU).
