ABSTRACT
France’s five European partner countries disapproved of de Gaulle’s stance, but the Franco-German reconciliation on whose foundations the Community rested was of overriding importance to them. In negotiating British membership, Heath faced dissent from within his own Party and the outright opposition of the Labour Party, whose conversion to the European cause had always been tenuous. In February 1974, Heath called a General Election during a crippling coal miners’ strike in order to establish “who governs Britain”. The motivation behind the renegotiation was rooted more in Labour Party politics than in national discontent with the terms of Britain’s membership. But the Labour Government did achieve some minor policy changes, none of which involved amendment to the Treaty of Rome or the UK Treaty of Accession. The Labour Party and Government remained divided over Europe and, as the history will relate, Callaghan was heavily constrained in his aim of pursuing an active and positive European policy.
