Comments on: fight for europe http://tygerland.net/2007/11/25/fight-for-europe/ occasionally acerbic, cultural and political comment Fri, 08 Aug 2008 00:08:15 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: tyger http://tygerland.net/2007/11/25/fight-for-europe/#comment-405345 tyger Tue, 27 Nov 2007 16:14:21 +0000 http://tygerland.net/2007/11/25/fight-for-europe/#comment-405345 Well, anticant, I don't think those prejudices have subsided. Still the political classes are unwilling to lead on the subject of Europe. During the latter days of Chirac and Schroeder, Blair had a unique chance to lead on the European stage, and he fluffed it. Well, anticant, I don’t think those prejudices have subsided. Still the political classes are unwilling to lead on the subject of Europe. During the latter days of Chirac and Schroeder, Blair had a unique chance to lead on the European stage, and he fluffed it.

]]> By: anticant http://tygerland.net/2007/11/25/fight-for-europe/#comment-403717 anticant Mon, 26 Nov 2007 15:49:52 +0000 http://tygerland.net/2007/11/25/fight-for-europe/#comment-403717 There's a fascinating blow-by-blow insider's account of how Britain repeatedly missed the European bus in "Missed Chances" by Sir Roy Denman, who was one of the British negotiators when we finally entered the Community in 1970, and in the 1980s served as Ambassador of the European Communities in Washington. He ascribes our negative attitude to Europe to ignorance,chauvinistic disdain for 'Continentals' as opposed to our Commonwealth 'brethren' and American 'cousins', and a mistaken perception of our actual strength and where our real interests lie. The British political classes, he says, wrongly believed that Britain would punch less weight in the world as a full and willing member of the EC than by preserving her - in fact fast dwindling - traditional role as leader of the Commonwealth and 'special friend' of the USA. A 1952 statement by Anthony Eden which he quotes is typical: "Britain's story and her interests lie far beyond the continent of Europe....That is our life; without it we should be no more than some millions of people living on an island off the coast of Europe, in which nobody wants to take any particular interest." Quite so. And what are we now? There’s a fascinating blow-by-blow insider’s account of how Britain repeatedly missed the European bus in “Missed Chances” by Sir Roy Denman, who was one of the British negotiators when we finally entered the Community in 1970, and in the 1980s served as Ambassador of the European Communities in Washington.

He ascribes our negative attitude to Europe to ignorance,chauvinistic disdain for ‘Continentals’ as opposed to our Commonwealth ‘brethren’ and American ‘cousins’, and a mistaken perception of our actual strength and where our real interests lie. The British political classes, he says, wrongly believed that Britain would punch less weight in the world as a full and willing member of the EC than by preserving her - in fact fast dwindling - traditional role as leader of the Commonwealth and ’special friend’ of the USA.

A 1952 statement by Anthony Eden which he quotes is typical: “Britain’s story and her interests lie far beyond the continent of Europe….That is our life; without it we should be no more than some millions of people living on an island off the coast of Europe, in which nobody wants to take any particular interest.”

Quite so. And what are we now?

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