At that time, no more than one or two dozen Conservative MP s were fervently anti- EU . They came within a hair's breadth of preventing Parliament from ratifying the Maastricht treaty and thereby bringing down the government. In his efforts to placate the Eurosceptics, some of whom want Britain out of the EU , Mr Major has become more and more of a sceptic himself. The party's sceptical drift made its Europhiles feel queasy. But unlike the Eurosceptics, they have not been prepared to vote against the government.
Labour now preaches the virtues of co-operation with Britain's European partners.
However, under the successive leaderships of Neil Kinnock, John Smith and Tony Blair, the party has trod timidly, fearful of being branded by the Tories as the poodle of Brussels. Labour believes that, while a majority of the British people want to remain in the EU , few of them want much more European integration. Another reason for Labour's caution is that the party itself remains divided. Its internal arguments are certainly less heated than those of the Tories, and only a small minority of the membership and parliamentary party is strongly Eurosceptical. None of the leaders is.