Pivotal powers: The British Labour Party and European unity since 1945

Abstract

This article examines the roots of European unity and Britain's relationship to it, primarily in terms of foreign policy and the failed alternative political economy of the empire/Commonwealth. Continuity of policy emerges as the dominant theme. The strong Atlanticist orientation of the state and its attempts to maintain a special relationship with the USA were objects of a bipartisan approach, as was the commitment to Britain's world role. Membership of the ‘European’ club in the 1970s did not constitute a break with this tradition so much as an adaptation in circumstances of prolonged relative decline. The article shows how the British left attempted to comprehend European unity in terms of the prospects for socialism and left reform in Britain itself.