Overview

Peter Shore's career as a Labour politician coincided with the emergence of the European movement. As a Cabinet Minister under Wilson and Callaghan, he was involved in many major decisions about Europe. In this book, he sets out to sweep away the myth, as he sees it, that in the absence of a realistic alternative, European integration is a historical march that Britain is forced to join. In addition, he aims to restore a sense of history that he sees as having been absent from the debates under New Labour. Using examples from his own experiences, he sets out to show that at all major points of decision there was another way, one that has not been closed off. It is his conviction that Britain will only thrive if it retains this independence for the future.

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"""A wonderful read: authoritative, timely, lucidly written with a magisterial grasp of the last fifty years of our history...I recommend it to Euro-philes and Euro-skeptics alike and particularly to the 'don't knows'."" -- Sir Oliver Wright, former British Ambassador to the US"

Shore, Trade Secretary in Harold Wilson's 1974-76 government and a long-standing Labour Euro-sceptic, here states the case for Britain and the European Union going their separate ways. Britain, he says, simply doesn't share the widespread desire of the peoples and governments of Western Europe for 'ever-closer-union', probably because we didn't share the bond of humiliation, shame and defeat in World War II. Opinion polls, he points out, have consistently shown the British people to have a closer sense of affinity with English-speaking countries like the USA and Australia than with other European countries. He accuses governments of all parties of misleading the British people about the true nature of the EU by playing down its fundamentally undemocratic decision-making structure and its endless expansionist ambitions. He sees a trigger-mechanism however for halfing the drift further Euro-Federalist involvement. The Amsterdam treaty of 1997 allows member states to 'fast-track' into closer union provided there are at least 8 of them and that they have the consent of those left behind - This gives the rest a veto, he says, the use of which Britain could agree to suspend in return for a new EU treaty allowing some states, the UK included, to limit their membership to Trade and economic co-operation only, and political co-operation of a looser kind through the Council of Europe. This would allow Britain to focus its energies and influence on those issues - the envionment, free trade and peace-keeping - which require global rather than regional solutions. (Kirkus UK)

A wonderful read: authoritative, timely, lucidly written with a magisterial grasp of the last fifty years of our history...I recommend it to Euro-philes and Euro-skeptics alike and particularly to the 'don't knows'. -- Sir Oliver Wright, former British Ambassador to the US

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