Britain’s Policy towards the European Community: Harold Wilson and Britain’s World Role, 1964–1967 (review)

Britain’s relationship with the European Economic Community (EEC) remains an area of intense interest for British scholars. The subject is of particular interest at a time when British political elites and ordinary citizens are weighing the pros and cons of joining the Eurozone.

During the years under Clement Attlee, the Labour governments appreciated the importance of working closely with the British Commonwealth, the United States, and Western Europe. When Winston Churchill became prime minister for the second time in the autumn of 1951, Europe was pushed aside in favor of Britain’s link to the British Commonwealth and then to the English-speaking world. But the 1956 Suez crisis underscored the limits of Britain’s power and influence, and the growing economic burden of Britain’s overseas commitments was beginning to be felt in White-hall with the coming of the post-imperial age. Meanwhile, the Cold War, which had begun as a British-Soviet power struggle in Europe, had increasingly become monopolized by the superpowers, which were chiefly responsible for intensifying the East-West confrontation, as demonstrated by the Cuban missile crisis of 1962. At the same time, the development of the Cold War brought Britain closer to the United States and Western Europe in an alliance against the Soviet Union and its satellite empire in Eastern Europe, and the economic and political importance of the British Commonwealth was receding. As a result, the government led by Harold Macmillan began to reappraise the importance of the EEC and in 1961 decided to apply for membership. However Britain’s trade links with the British Commonwealth (albeit declining rapidly in recent years) and its close relationship with the United States continued to hinder Britain’s entry into the EEC. French President Charles de Gaulle was not convinced that British membership would be beneficial to the Community, and in January 1963 France vetoed Britain’s admission. Britain’s relationship with the EEC was, however, largely unaffected by de Gaulle’s impetuous rejection. By 1964 Britain’s economic relations with Europe had increased substantially. The Community was no longer living in a fantasy world, and Britain’s political and economic interests demanded its entry into the organization in the near future.

This was the context in which Harold Wilson formed his first government in the autumn of 1964. But when Britain applied for membership again in 1967, it was rejected again by de Gaulle for much the same reasons. Wilson was widely known for his support of Britain’s East of Suez role and of Britain’s close relationship with the United States, and how and why he decided to propel Britain into Europe is a story that deserves to be told. With the growing number of new studies of the Wilson governments, scholars have begun to reappraise his premiership rather more sympathetically. Helen Parr, in a revised version of her Ph.D. dissertation, has also produced a sympathetic study of Wilson and his European policies. She explains how and why Wilson’s attitude toward Europe shifted from skepticism to a serious commitment. She shows that Wilson had a more coherent policy toward Europe than has hitherto been appreciated, although she admits that a number of incidental factors (the 1966 economic crisis, Britain’s decision to curtail its world role east of Suez, and the development of the EEC itself) helped to increase Wilson’s interest in British membership. Despite the second failure in 1967, the initiative, as Parr argues, augured well for Britain’s third and successful attempt in 1973, when the Community made the first major step toward enlargement by including Denmark and Ireland along with Britain.

The book is really about Wilson and his policy toward the EEC, and the subtitle, “Harold Wilson and Britain’s World Role,” tends to give an unfocused impression when combined with the more accurate title, “Britain’s Policy towards the European Community.” The book is...