ABSTRACT
This book examines the process by which the Blair leadership sought to balance the Labour party's new found Europeanism with the conflicting requirements of the domestic political climate in the UK in order to develop a credible set of positions on the intergovernmental conference (IGC) in the run-up to the general election of May 1997. It explores the extent to which Labour party membership of the Party of European Socialists (PES), its consultations with other PES parties, and the mediating role played by Labour MEPs in the European parliamentary group of the PES, affected Labour's positioning on the IGC. In examining the leader's working-group (LWG) on the IGC established by the Blair leadership in opposition, the book focuses on both the nature of party policy-making processes and the general preparations for government undertaken by the Labour party prior to May 1997. It discusses three distinctive phases in party policy-making on the Amsterdam IGC.
