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Matthew Sowemimo the European Controversy in the Conservative Matthew Sowemimo Sheffield University Politics PhD Thesis The European Controversy In The ConservativeParty 1988-94 Supervisor: Professor A. M. Gamble The thesis will focus on the divisions which emerged within the Conservative parliamentary party after the acceleration of European integration in the late 1980s. The thesis uses an analytical typology to show how the conflict over European integration led to a realignment of the Conservative parliamentary party and a split within the Thatcherite grouping. This typology is developed as a result of identifying the key ideological dynamics at work in the European dispute. These dynamics have given birth to distinct groupings within the party: - Thatcherite Nationalists, Neo-Liberal Integrationists and Interventionist Integrationists. A key factor in the Thatcherite Nationalists' hostility to Europe is the centrality of nationhood in the Conservative ideological tradition. From the late nineteenth century onwards, Tory leaders used nationhood as the basis for their party's survival in industrial Britain. The key aspect of nationhood ideology is the emphasisplaced by Tory leaderson Britain's global ambition and identity. The Tory European groupings are divided on the question of whether Britain. should pursue an Atlanticist or Europeanist foreign policy. The thesis will show that foreign policy developments over the last forty years have widened the divide between the Tory groupings on this issue. The Thatcherite Nationalists' hostility to European integration intensified once the integrationist dynamics within the EuropeanUnion becameapparent. These dynamics were incompatible with the concept of a Europe of free trading nation states. The Nationalists becamecommitted to reversing theseintegrationist developments. The Thatcherite Nationalists and the Neo-Liberal Integrationists differ fundamentally on the issue of the single currency. The Nationalists believe that monetary union can never command popular legitimacy. The Integrationists argue that monetary union is a more effective means of attaining traditional Thatcherite objectives of price stability and sound finance. The European Controversy In The Conservative Party 1988 -1994 ý1 \7 , By Matthew Sowemimo Department of Politics, Sheffield University `c&C\ n CONTENTS PA GE Chapter Page Number Introduction 1 1. The Realignment 4 of Conservatism 2. The Origins of the 25 European Controversy 3. The ConservativeParty 61 and Nationhood 4. Europe and Atlanticism 84 S. The Battle Against The 120 Institutions 6. Thatcl: erism In One 143 Country? Conclusion 168 Bibliography Appendix One Appendix Two INTRODUCTION The controversy is now beginning to crack the old Party alignments (Harold Macmillan quoted in Home 1989: 358). Britain has become ever more dependent on an economic system that lies beyond our immediate control (Geoffrey Howe - HC Debates, 19/12/91, Vol. 201, Col. 511). Weare floating and we will set monetary policy in this country to meet our objectives and it will be a British economicpolicy and a British monetarypolicy (Rt Hon Norman Lamont MP 18/9/92). Last time round the Empire was ours. We were not part of it. This time we will not run it: we will merely be part of it. Decisions - the decisions of our union will not be made at Westminster;they will be made in Brussls. Instead of ruling a large part of the world we will be supplicants at a court several hundreds of miles away (Oliver Letwin, Drift To Union. 1989). The European controversy has convulsed the Conservative Party throughout the 1990s. Europe has stimulated unprecedented backbench dissidence and been a direct cause of two party leadership challenges. John Major was forced to twice threaten his party with a general election in order to secure his European policies. The European issue now has the potential to split the Conservative Party. The conflict over Europeanintegration seemsall the more remarkable considering the ConservativeParty's reputation as the'party of Europe'. This reputation was cultivated by a successionof Tory leaders including Thatcher and Heath. It was a Conservative Government which successfully negotiated Britain's entry into the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1973. Thatcher also negotiated and secured ratification of the Single EuropeanAct which intensified Europeanintegration. This thesis will focus on why the European Union (EU) has become so divisive for the Conservative Party. It will analyse why leading Conservative politicians, like Margaret Thatcher became so antagonistic to the EU. This thesis will also focus on the significance of the fracturing of the Thatcherite grouping on the Europeanissue. The thesis will argue that the European controversy has been brought about by an ideological realignment of the Conservative Party. This realignment has been driven by the interaction of central Conservative ideological disputes with the strong integrationist direction taken by the EU from the end of the 1980sonwards. The thesis will use an analytical typology to examine the party's European divisions. The typology shows how disputes over the Anglo-American alliance; the future of Thatcherite economic policy and the Tory ideology of nationhood, have been re- opened as a result of the heightened pace of European integration. The post-1988 period was the key turning point in the European controversy because it was at this time that integrationist pressures in the EU intensified and leading Conservatives placed themselves in opposition to these pressures. The thesis will identify the conflict over European integration as part on a recurring Tory conflict over national sovereignty in foreign economic policy. At each stage of this conflict the party leadership has either sought to mediate between Conservatives or it has taken a stance which identifies with one set of protagonists. Thatcher became a partisan in the European controversy and so intensified party divisions. Major sought to maintain a precarious middle position on Europe. The central factor in this recurring conflict over sovereignty is the role of nationhood in Conservative ideology. Nationhood has been a core ideological commitment for Conservatives.Conservative leaders conceived of nationhood as the central element of a strategy to universalise the Conservatives' appeal in an industrial society. The ideology of nationhood in addition to stressing a common identity and institutions, also placed a premium on Britain's global power and identity. The globalist conception of nationhood was principally expressed through the glorification of empire. For many Tories, EEC membershiprepresented a retreat from Britain's global identity to a confined continental role. The other aspect of nationhood was the ConservativeParty's commitment to the sovereignty of the Westminster parliament.. The European groupings within the party have contestedAtlanticist and Europeanist conceptions of Conservative foreign policy. Since the Second World War the Conservative leadership came to terms with American leadership in international relations. The Tory leadership felt itself forced to engagewith the EEC in order to maintain the alliance with the United States(US). Some Conservatives now argue that the Government should develop a more independentEuropean foreign policy. They believe that Britain's past dependenceon America was unhealthy. However other Tories deeply distrust European security and economic instincts and wish to perpetuateAmerican leadership. The end of the Cold War has further polarised the Europeanistand Atlanticist dispute in the party. Another trigger for the emergence of the divisions over Europe was the conflict between Thatcherite deregulation and the EU model of `social capitalism' centred on France and Germany. The Major Government extended Thatcher's deregulation project in order to enhancenational competitiveness.Deregulation is the one unifying European issue in the party. The Conservative Party as a whole is united in its opposition to interventionist European policies and to the EU social dimension. However some Conservatives believe that Britain can only pursue an unfettered 2 deregulation policy if the UK withdraws from the European Union. Pro-Europeans however believe that EMU would enhance the free market project. Many Conservatives oppose EMU in principle because they believe it can never command popular legitimacy. The combination of the core commitment of nationhood and the free market project is united in the concept of a Europe of nation states.Thatcher was prepared to enhance supranational power in order to promote her free market project (Thatcher 1993: 553). However the integrationist dynamic within the EU is ultimately incompatible with a Europe of nation states. As EU competence has increased, so many Tories desire to restore Westminster's policy independence. Major attempted to confine integration to the single market spherethrough devices like subsidiarity. However he failed to reassureparty dissidentsthat the free trading project can prevail in the EU. The thesis will focus solely on the debatewithin the Conservativeparliamentary party in its analysis of the European controversy. This focus is appropriate becauseof the pre-eminence of the parliamentary party in Tory politics. The Conservatives are a leadershipand not a members' party. The key policy struggleswhich have taken place have been between leadership elites. When other individuals and interest groups are mentioned in this thesis, they will be discussedin relation to their influence on the parliamentary
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