Title: Labour's European dilemmas : from Bevin to Blair /
Authors: Broad, Roger.
Publisher: Palgrave,
Year: 2001
Subjects: European Economic Community Great Britain.; Labour Party (Great Britain); European Union Great Britain.; Great Britain Politics and government
Abstract: "'The end of a thousand years of British history' was how Labour Party leader Hugh Gaitskell in 1962 described entry to the European Community. For nearly three decades the issue deeply divided the party over whether membership would prevent a Labour government bringing in socialist measures. This was the 'ideological' dispute. But tangled up with it was an 'instinctual' objection based on national sovereignty. The dispute helped keep Labour in opposition for 18 years. Ironically, in the early nineties, some of the most bitter leftwing critics performed a volte-face and became enthusiastic federalists, but by then their obduracy had destroyed the party's socialist basis and unwittingly given birth to New Labour. Now, the Labour Party appears united about Europe.