DOCSLIB.ORG

The Great Divide

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Great Divide onservatives have always signal an end of Thatcherism, an end to been divided over Europe the strategic objectives which the but their differences have Thatcher government has attempted to recently become much more pursue, however inconstistently and in­ Cpronounced. The row over Nicholas coherently, during the past 11 years? Or Ridley's after-dinner observations in will a leadership be found to maintain the Spectator demonstrated just how broad continuity in policy direction? much Conservatives on both sides of the Attitudes to Europe are rapidly becom­ divide abandoned their normal reserve ing the litmus test, superseding old wet/ in front of the cameras and began dry divisions over economic manage­ denouncing one another with unseemly ment. As on any other complex issue, vigour. Terms like federalists and positions on Europe within the nationalists to characterise the oppos­ Conservative Party do not always fall ing factions have begun to be freely neatly into two camps. Nevertheless, employed. there is increasingly a divide between When Ridley resigned in July, com­ two approaches to the European Com­ mentators were quick to point out that munity - the first pragmatic and he was the third senior minister accom-modating, the second ideological Thatcher had lost because of internal and obstructive. divisions over Europe. Heseltine res­ These two camps are termed federal­ igned in 1986 as secretary of state for ists and nationalists, but labels disguise defence over the prime minister's a range of different positions and em­ refusal to back his plans for a European, phases within each. In the nationalist rather than American, rescue for West- camp three different strands can be land helicopters. Lawson resigned in identified: isolationists, Atlanticists and 1989 as chancellor of the exchequer market liberals. In the federalist camp because of long-standing differences there are unionists, realists and market with the prime minister and her special liberals. The picture is further con­ The adviser Sir Alan Walters over Britain's fused because it is quite possible to membership of the European monetary belong to different camps on different system. issues. For example, Nigel Lawson may All three resignations weakened the have been a federalist on the ERM, but Great prime minister's authority, and focused on the social charter, on political union attention on the policy divisions over and on industrial policy he was a nation­ Europe within the party. These policy alist. Similarly, Heseltine and Thatcher differences have become tangled up take different views on all the above, Divide with the question of her leadership and but on defence both are Atlanticists the succession. When they debate Eu­ rather than Europeans. rope, Conservatives are also seeking he two pure positions are iso­ Europe has become the the answer to another question - is lationist and unionist. Isola­ there life after Thatcher, and if so tionists favour withdrawal great divide in the Tory whom? from the European Commun­ At one level this is about personalities. Tity and support the assertion of national Party. Andrew Gamble Who will inherit the golden throne (or sovereignty in all areas of policy. explains the various poisoned chalice) which Thatcher will Unionists by contrast favour rapid pol­ positions and suggests leave behind. Leadership contenders itical and economic integration leading come and go, rise and fall. No-one has to the creation of a federal United that the Thatcherites yet established a secure claim to be heir States of Europe. will ultimately lose presumptive. So much will depend on There is a sizeable body of opinion in the timing and circumstances of That­ the party which is isolationist, but union­ cher's departure. ist sentiment is much smaller. The But the European issue is about much spokesman for the isolationists used to more than just the identity of That­ be Enoch Powell. He is resolutely na­ cher's successor. Because Thatcher tionalist on all questions including herself has become so involved in the defence, rejecting dependence on the issue as a partisan on one side of the United States as much or even more divisions in her party that the issue has than he rejects dependence on the Euro­ also become the battleground for the pean Community. For the isolationists future direction of Conservative policy. there are no issues which justify the Issues that appear technical and surrender of national sovereignty. highly complex, such as whether Bri­ The Thatcherite wing of the party con­ tain should join the exchange rate tains many isolationists, but it is not the mechanism of the European monetary dominant tendency. Thatcher's position system and if so at what parity and on national sovereignty is complex, since inflation rate, have become invested she is such a strong supporter of the with the wider hopes and fears which Atlantic alliance and American leader­ the different factions entertain for the ship of the West, and she has never future of the country and the party. opposed Britain's membership of the European Community. She accepts the While enthusiasts from the Thatcher Youth pooling of sovereignty which member­ still chant '10 more years', most ship of Nato and the European Com­ Conservatives and most commentators munity imply. expect that the prime minister will seek The Thatcherite position, therefore, to win one more election and then step embraces two groups - Atlanticists and down. Most people assume therefore market liberals. Atlanticists give high­ that the post-Thatcher era is almost est political priority to defence and here. But will Thatcher's departure security issues. The special relation- 34 MARXISM TODAY OCTOBER 1990 ship with the United States must not be compromised by merging British sov­ ereignty into a European union. For Atlanticists, the European Community cannot replace Nato and it is not desir­ able that it should. Thatcher has no confidence in European political union, and she uses every opportunity to demonstrate that the Europeans are in­ capable of acting together. The most recent example is her blunt criticism of other European nations for allegedly giving inadequate and lukewarm sup­ port to US action in the Gulf. or market liberals in the nationalist camp, less em­ phasis is placed on maintaining an independent defence and foreigFn policy and more on maintaining an independent economic policy. Unlike isolationists, they support the pro­ 'In Ridley's gramme of the single market, but they believe that moves to full economic and political monetary union, as well as implementa­ universe it tion of the provisions of the social is essential charter, risk bringing back many of the that anything evils which the Thatcherite revolution had banished from Britain. unpleasant The other countries of the European being done Community, particularly the original to the six members, favour forms of state in­ British tervention and industrial relations which Britain has rejected. Britain people must either convert her partners to should be Thatcherism, or run the risk of con­ done by a stantly being outvoted, and seeing government forms of central planning and collectiv- ist intervention reimposed on Britain accountable by the bureaucracy in Brussels. to them' A common European currency is op­ posed because it implies the creation of a European central bank and European state agencies to run a common Euro­ pean monetary and fiscal policy. Under such a centralised regime, countries with higher costs would suffer deflation and unemployment. Britain would be locked into an inflexible monetary and fiscal regime, and the British govern­ ment would no longer have the powers to decide its own policy. Thatcher makes use of both Atlanticist and free-market arguments. In her Bru­ ges speech in September 1988 she made it clear that while she supports the cre­ ation of a European free market, she is totally opposed to steps leading to any kind of European political union. The Bruges group was founded after this speech to rally opposition both within the Conservative Party and across Eu­ rope to progress towards political union. The Bruges group unites isola­ tionists, Atlanticists and market liberals in a coalition against the federalist threat. The federalists are less well orga­ nised. The major standard-bearers of the federalist camp are Edward Heath and Michael Heseltine, both of whom have a strategic vision of Britain's place in Europe. But they do not work to­ gether, and neither openly presents a unionist argument. Heseltine in parti­ cular prefers to align himself with the realist faction, which has a majority both in the cabinet and among MARXISM TODAY OCTOBER 1990 Conservative MPs. sovereignty. dwindle still further. This was a view Currently represented by Douglas The argument between these different Ridley himself seems to have shared. Hurd and John Major, the realists have market liberals partly turns on diffe­ He clearly cannot have anticipated the no great enthusiasm for political union rent attitudes to Thatcherism. That­ impact his interview would have. He but are pragmatic and accommodating cherite market liberals are proud of the concluded it by declaring that he was to moves to further the integration of achievements of Thatcherism and an­ still at the top of the political tree and the Community. They seek to extend xious that its distinctive identity might was not done yet. co-operation and build consensus. They be lost. Many pro-European market hen he returned from his tend to be much less ideological than the liberals like Sam Brittan think that ministerial trip abroad to nationalists; they are less worried about Thatcherites are too complacent. They face the clamour for his the loss of sovereignty or the imposition do not believe that Thatcherism has resignation he at first of alien policies by Brussels on London. cured all Britain's ills and brought Wtried to delay, indicating that he would They believe that if Britain is fully about an economic miracle.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • ANTONY FISHER Champion of Liberty
    ANTONY FISHER Champion of Liberty Gerald Frost First published in Great Britain in 2002 by Profile Books Ltd. Copyright: Gerald Frost Condensed in 2008 by David Moller Copyright: Institute of Economic Affairs. Additional material on Dorian Fisher supplied by Linda Whetstone and on the Atlas Economic Research Foundation by John Blundell and Colleen Dyble. 1 Introduction When Antony Fisher died in San Francisco on July 9, 1988, aged 73, four weeks after being knighted in the Queen’s birthday honours list, the world was largely unaware of him or his influence. He was not listed in Who’s Who. He was not well known to the British or American media. He had never held major elected office. Although he had made – and lost – a considerable fortune he relied during his latter years on the financial support of a rich and devoted second wife. The belated knighthood, which fitted the tall, sparse, handsome Englishman like a glove, was almost the sole public recognition he received during his lifetime, and this did not come until he was terminally ill. Only two politicians, Enoch Powell and Keith Joseph, attended his memorial service. That, however, would probably have been more a matter of satisfaction than of regret, since throughout his life the former businessman and decorated World War II pilot displayed an ill-concealed contempt for the generality of politicians. He believed that their capacity for harm far outweighed their ability to do good. Among MPs generally, probably only a handful were aware of Fisher’s remarkable influence. Yet in founding the Institute of Economic Affairs, the London-based free-market think tank, he had played a crucial role in helping to reverse economic trends that many had judged to be irreversible, thereby changing the direction of British post-war politics.
    [Show full text]
  • The Role of Special Advisers Should Be Clarified and There Must Be More Transparency About Their Work
    blo gs.lse.ac.uk http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/archives/24688 The role of special advisers should be clarified and there must be more transparency about their work The seemingly nebulous and underhand role of special advisers has featured prominently in many of the government’s recent scandals – most recently in the case of Adam Smith and the handling of the Newscorps bid for BSkyB. Martin Smith argues that the problem is not their existence per se, but a lack of clarity about what they do and transparency about how they do it. Since special advisers were f irst introduced in the 1970s they have regularly hit the headlines. Under Margaret Thatcher, special advisers were seen as a mechanism f or providing the prime minister with advice to counter her departmental ministers. Ultimately this led to a clash between her adviser Alan Walters and the Chancellor Nigel Lawson resulting in Lawson’s resignation. Under Blair special advisers were seen as developing an alternative civil service that engendered sof a government. Special advisers were of ten the f rontline troops in the battle between Blair and Brown f ighting their war by proxy. Two of Brown’s special advisers Charlie Wheelen and Damien McBride had to resign because of their activities in releasing dif f erent types of inf ormation. Special advisers are seen of ten as blocking the civil service or over politicising government. At the same time the lack of special advisers in Number 10 is seen a f actor of the ‘omnishambles’ of the coalition government.
    [Show full text]
  • Achieving Change: What We Can Learn from Margaret Thatcher John Blundell
    No. 1000 Delivered April 30, 2007 December 31, 2007 Achieving Change: What We Can Learn from Margaret Thatcher John Blundell Thank you for doing me the very great honor of inviting me to deliver this 1,000th Heritage Founda- tion Lecture, my fourth out of your first 1,000!1 Talking Points Today I want to talk about Margaret Thatcher and Conservatives can learn ten key strategic les- what we can learn from her about achieving change. sons from Margaret Thatcher: After all, we are in the change business and she was 1. Have a strong moral and political compass, very good at it! 2. Simplify and communicate clearly and with Margaret Thatcher was and still is different. On conviction, February 21 of this year, on a 3' plinth, a 7'4" statue of 3. Lead but always listen, her was unveiled in the lobby outside the Commons chamber. Very few Prime Ministers have ever been so 4. Develop policies that go with the grain of honored, and all previous ones were honored posthu- human nature, mously. We are catching up on the USA in honoring 5. Think through strategy well before taking Margaret Thatcher. At the unveiling she commented: action, “I might have preferred iron but bronze will do. It 6. Build good teams, 2 won’t rust and this time I hope the head will stay on.” 7. Use circumstances as springboards for At 7'4" the statue is nearly as imposing as she can action, still be. 8. Make good allies, But she did ask me to relay the following words 9.
    [Show full text]
  • The New Right Think Tanks and Policy Change in the Uk
    THE NEW RIGHT THINK TANKS AND POLICY CHANGE IN THE UK Andrew James Tesseyman DPhil Thesis University of York Politics Department Submitted, February 1999 Abstract It has often been claimed that, during the 1980s and early 1990s, the new right think tanks — namely the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), Centre for Policy Studies (CPS), and Adam Smith Institute (ASI) — had a major impact on policy-making and policy change. This thesis addresses such claims by examining three reforms in which the new right think tanks have been attributed an influence — bus deregulation, education reform, and prison privatisation. It seeks not only to empirically assess their impact, but also to relate these findings to the policy-making literature, in particular the Rhodes Model which emphasises policy continuity and the Advocacy Coalition Framework which seeks to explain policy change. It is argued that the new right think tanks had an impact on all three policy changes, as members of "advocacy coalitions", although the nature and extent of this impact varied. In some cases, the TEA, CPS, and ASI were able to have a direct impact on policy change, obtaining access to policy-makers through coalition allies. In other cases their impact was indirect, in shaping the broader "climate of ideas". The new right think tanks also contributed to new patterns of policy formulation, although there is limited evidence of any long-term structural impact on policy-making in these areas. It is also argued that the case studies raise a number of issues for the Rhodes Model and the Advocacy Coalition Framework, although these could be addressed by integrating the two to develop an approach to account for both policy continuity and policy change.
    [Show full text]
  • Confi Denti Al T He General El Ecti on Campai Gn 1983
    CONFI DENTI AL T HE GENERAL EL ECTI ON CAMPAI GN 1983 CONSERVATIVE RESEARCH DEPARTMENT 29th June 1 S3 PJC/AS CONFIDENTIAL THE GENERAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN 1983 A CRD VIEW 1. INTRODUCTION It seems to be generally agreed that the Research Department, along with the rest of the central organisation, had a good campaign. These notes are therefore written more as a pointer to the scope for further improvement than as a post mortem report. However it is probably wise to establish at the outset that the Labour Party fought an extremely bad campaign and that the Alliance had not got its act together. Because of our sustained and commanding lead in the polls, the pressures and tensions were less severe than in 1979 - and probably less severe than in most other General Elections. Neither on "monetarism" nor on unemployment did we have to defend the Government's record against really searching criticism; the only point on which the Opposition attacked at all effectively was on the National Health Service. Nevertheless, if we got away lightly on policy matters - and our Manifesto did not give away much information either-there has been no slowing down in the technological and media revolution. The media increasingly take on the role of apposition, with their endless interviews and question and answer programmes. The campaign becomes more and more concentrated in London; less and less actually happens in the constituencies. Everything conspires to focus public attention on the two, three or four party leaders. It may be that next time round we need to give more thought to the co-ordination of the Ministerial team as a whole.
    [Show full text]
  • Spads: Political Sherpas Bridging Minister and Civil Servant
    SpAds: political sherpas bridging minister and civil servant Article Published Version Creative Commons: Attribution 4.0 (CC-BY) Open access Kakabadse, A. P. and Kakabadse, N. K. (2020) SpAds: political sherpas bridging minister and civil servant. Open Journal of Political Science, 10 (02). pp. 234-252. ISSN 2164- 0505 doi: https://doi.org/10.4236/ojps.2020.102016 Available at http://centaur.reading.ac.uk/89646/ It is advisable to refer to the publisher’s version if you intend to cite from the work. See Guidance on citing . Published version at: http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ojps.2020.102016 To link to this article DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ojps.2020.102016 Publisher: Scientific Research All outputs in CentAUR are protected by Intellectual Property Rights law, including copyright law. Copyright and IPR is retained by the creators or other copyright holders. Terms and conditions for use of this material are defined in the End User Agreement . www.reading.ac.uk/centaur CentAUR Central Archive at the University of Reading Reading’s research outputs online Open Journal of Political Science, 2020, 10, 234-252 https://www.scirp.org/journal/ojps ISSN Online: 2164-0513 ISSN Print: 2164-0505 SpAds: Political Sherpas Bridging Minister and Civil Servant Andrew P. Kakabadse , Nada Korac Kakabadse Henley Business School, Greenlands, Henley on Thames, UK How to cite this paper: Kakabadse, A. P., Abstract & Kakabadse, N. K. (2020). SpAds: Political Sherpas Bridging Minister and Civil Ser- This paper examines how opinion-shaping political and civil service stake- vant. Open Journal of Political Science, 10, holders view the role and contribution of Special Political Advisers (SpAds) 234-252.
    [Show full text]
  • On Britain's Conservative Reform, 1979
    Copyright the Fraser Institute www.fraserinstitute.org ON BRITAIN'S CONSERVATIVE REFORM 1979- By Alan A. Walters Personal Economic Adviser to Prime Minister Thatcher FOCUS NO.5 1983 Copyright the Fraser Institute www.fraserinstitute.org Copyright the Fraser Institute www.fraserinstitute.org CONTENTS PART ONE Introduction by Dr. Michael A. Walker 7 Address by Alan A. Wal ters: 11 "Britain's Conservative Reform 1979 - " Introduction 11 Monetary and Fiscal Policy in the U.K. 15 A Program of De-regulation in the U.K. 20 Public Spending and the Tax Burden 22 The Thatcher Record 24 PART TWO Mike Ryan Interview with Alan A. Walters 27 (for "Business wise" - CBC TV, Vancouver) Copyright the Fraser Institute www.fraserinstitute.org Copyright the Fraser Institute www.fraserinstitute.org PART ONE AN ADDRESS BY ALAN A. WALTERS to the ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING of THE FRASER INSTITUTE MARCH 28, 1983 VANCOUyER, B.C. Copyright the Fraser Institute www.fraserinstitute.org Copyright the Fraser Institute www.fraserinstitute.org INTRODUCTION BY DR. MICHAEL A. WALKER DIRECTOR, THE FRASER INSTITUTE It is an honour and a privilege for me to have the opportunity today to introduce to you one of the most influential economists of our time. As Personal Economic Adviser to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Professor Alan Walters has made a unique contribution to an epoch-marking reorganization of the economic policy in the United Kingdom. Alan Walters was born in the United Kingdom in 1926 and was educated at the University of London and Nuffield College, Oxford University. He has held distinguished pro­ fessorship chairs in the London School of Economics, the University of Birmingham and Johns Hopkins University from which institution he is at present on leave.
    [Show full text]
  • Political Special Advisers
    House of Commons Public Administration Select Committee Political Special Advisers Written Evidence List of written evidence 1 Professor David Richards, Professor Martin Smith and Mr. Patrick Diamond (SPAD 01) 2 Lord Butler of Brockwell (SPAD 02) 3 Committee on Standards in Public Life (CSPL) (SPAD 03) 4 Civil Service Commission (SPAD 04) 5 Professor Francesca Gains (University of Manchester) and Professor Gerry Stoker (University of Southampton) (SPAD 05) 6 Mr Simon Cramp (SPAD 06) 7 Michael Jacobs (SPAD 07) 8 Democratic Audit (SPAD 08) 9 Professor Robert Hazell, Dr Ben Yong, Peter Waller and Brian Walker – The Constitution Unit, University College London (SPAD 09) 10 Zoe Gruhn & Felicity Slater (SPAD 10) 11 RTHon Harriet Harman QC MP (SPAD 11) 12 Steve Bates (SPAD 12) 13 Cabinet Office (SPAD 13) Written evidence submitted by Professor David Richards, Professor Martin Smith and Mr. Patrick Diamond1 (SPAD 01) 1. The preamble to this Inquiry highlights the initial position adopted by the current Coalition Government towards special advisers [SpAds] quoting the Rt Hon Francis Maude MP, Minister for the Cabinet Office in July 2010: ‘Too often in recent years the Service has been marginalised, either through the spread of SpAds or the over-use of expensive consultants.’ We would take issue with the notion that Whitehall has been marginalised by the relative growth of SpAds, most notably after 1997. In many ways this is both a misrepresentation and misunderstanding of the role played by SpAds within the British political system. Indeed, in terms of numbers and relative influence, there are very few special advisors in relation to permanent senior civil servants.
    [Show full text]
  • After Dinner Speakers, Conference Hosts, Presenters & Entertainers
    After Dinner Speakers, Conference Hosts, Presenters & Entertainers stablished in 1988 The Right Address is an experienced, professional and friendly speaker and entertainment consultancy. EUnderstanding the challenges that can arise when you are organising a conference, dinner, or any business event, has been the key to our success over the years. What can you expect from The Right Address? We offer you the best in after dinner and business speakers, If you would like to browse through more ideas before cabaret and musical entertainment. From well known names speaking to one of our consultants you can do so by visiting to those you may not have heard of, we pride ourselves our website www.therightaddress.co.uk in getting the perfect speaker for your event. The right speaker, or presenter, can turn a routine annual dinner The website enables you to search for a speaker by name, into a memorable occasion, or your awards evening into or category and provides more details on each speaker, a glamorous high profile event, which your guests will be performer or comedian listed. speaking about for weeks to come. Whilst browsing the site you can create your very own You can expect from The Right Address the top business wish list as you go. This can either be saved to refer to and keynote speakers, from captains of industry, at a later date or sent to us to request more information politicians, experts in the economy, technology, on your chosen selection. Alternatively there is an enquiry banking and the environment, to the most vibrant up form to complete and send to us if you have additional and coming entrepreneurs.
    [Show full text]
  • The Making of Neoliberal Knowledge and Hegemony Dieter Plehwe and Bernhard Walpen
    Between network and complex organization: The Making of Neoliberal Knowledge and Hegemony Dieter Plehwe and Bernhard Walpen 1. Neoliberal Hegemony: is it all over now, or only contested? The hegemony of neoliberal discourse and practice – the claim of the superiority of the market mechanism and competition-driven processes of capitalist development over state- driven pathways of social and economic organization, the limitation of government to the protection of individual rights, especially property rights, privatisation of state enterprises and the liberalization of formerly strictly regulated and government administered markets – has been challenged in different national and international arenas around the globe. Failures of “shock therapies” in Eastern European transition economies, the Asian financial crisis of 1997, and the collapse of the dot.com market certainly have not aided arguments in favor of self regulation and private enrichment as beneficial to all. Some observers have – somewhat prematurely, to be sure, considering recent successes of the neoliberal right in Italy and France, for example – suggested that the rise of new social democratic parties to power in various European countries constituted the end of neoliberalism (equated with Thatcher/Reagan government policies). Nobel Prizes in economics in recent years – previously awarded to hard-core neoliberal thinkers such as Hayek, Friedman, Buchanan, and Becker – have gone to the likes of development economist Amartya Sen and World Bank insider-turned-critic Joseph E. Stiglitz. These developments, along with others, have been interpreted by some as indications that a “post-Washington consensus” is emerging, reinserting an ethical dimension into the holy triad of global “liberalization, privatisation and deregulation” (Higgott 2000).
    [Show full text]
  • Howard Reed, Osbornomics
    Renewal 18.1-2 30/03/2010 12:43 Page 74 Osbornomics Howard Reed One of the Conservatives’ key campaign slogans in the run up to the 2010 election has been ‘we can’t go on like this’ – the subtext being that Labour’s current approach to economic policy is bankrupt. But how would the Tories differ from Labour, exactly? While governments never end up doing quite what they say beforehand once they get into office, nonetheless there is enough accumulated evidence from George Osborne’s four-and-a-half year tenure as Shadow Chancellor to establish a rough outline of what sort of economic policy he will pursue if he makes it into 11 Downing Street this spring. This article begins by looking at the strands of Conservative thought that feed into ‘Osbornomics’, and then looks at what that means for four broad areas: macroeconomic policy, the size and role of the public sector, the tax and benefit system and industrial policy (and financial sector regulation in particular). The arguments here are informed by a seminar on this topic which took place in the House of Commons on 1 March 2010, chaired by the Labour MP Jon Cruddas, and featuring Professor Andrew Gamble of the University of Cambridge, journalists Polly Toynbee and Larry Elliott of The Guardian, and myself. Strands of contemporary Conservatism It is important to realise that the Conservative Party has never been an ideologically monolithic organisation but has always encompassed a variety of strains of political thought including the protectionism of the 1930s, the ‘One Nation’ Toryism of the post-war consensus, and the neo-liberalism of the 1980s and 1990s.
    [Show full text]
  • Towards Exit from the EU: the Conservative Party's Increasing Euroscepticism Since the 1980S Dorey, Peter
    www.ssoar.info Towards Exit from the EU: The Conservative Party's Increasing Euroscepticism since the 1980s Dorey, Peter Veröffentlichungsversion / Published Version Zeitschriftenartikel / journal article Empfohlene Zitierung / Suggested Citation: Dorey, P. (2017). Towards Exit from the EU: The Conservative Party's Increasing Euroscepticism since the 1980s. Politics and Governance, 5(2), 27-40. https://doi.org/10.17645/pag.v5i2.873 Nutzungsbedingungen: Terms of use: Dieser Text wird unter einer CC BY Lizenz (Namensnennung) zur This document is made available under a CC BY Licence Verfügung gestellt. Nähere Auskünfte zu den CC-Lizenzen finden (Attribution). For more Information see: Sie hier: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.de Diese Version ist zitierbar unter / This version is citable under: https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-55136-3 Politics and Governance (ISSN: 2183–2463) 2017, Volume 5, Issue 2, Pages 27–40 DOI: 10.17645/pag.v5i2.873 Article Towards Exit from the EU: The Conservative Party’s Increasing Euroscepticism since the 1980s Peter Dorey Department of Politics and International Relations, School of Law and Politics, Cardiff University, Cardiff, CF10 3AX, UK; E-Mail: [email protected] Submitted: 26 January 2017 | Accepted: 23 March 2017 | Published: 5 April 2017 Abstract Since the 1980s, Britain’s Conservative Party has become increasingly critical of the European Union, and of the country’s membership of it. So contentious and controversial has this issue become that it was a significant factor in the downfall of three consecutive Conservative Prime Ministers, all of whom found it increasingly difficult to manage their Party in Parlia- ment, and thereby maintain any semblance of Party unity.
    [Show full text]