How Do You Solve A Problem Like Europe? A British Political Timeline

[AtleticoPulis]

Britain's long and stored history with Europe is certainly a troubled one. Indeed, ever since Robert Schuman and Jean Monnet fathered the concept of a political union between European nations, based on a desire to keep peace in the continent, British scholars and commoners alike have been at loggerheads as to what Britain's role in it should be. It is a debate that has erupted since Britain's initial entry into the former EEC in 1972, and it still rages on four decades on, undeterred by the collapses of governments brought on by its discussion.

However, the primary argument over Europe seems to boil down to one night in British history. June 5th 1975 - the date on which Britain voted to leave the European Economic Community.

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"I was a relatively new introduction to political presenting when I chaired the referendum results: indeed, I'd only presented the first of many Panorama programmes in late 1974. However, nothing in my four decades of doing so has brought me more infamy than that fateful night.

When I realised at around 3am on the 6th that we would be leaving the EEC after all, I was convinced that reality had truly hoodwinked me. Exit polling had indicated a very different result; Yes looked set for an overwhelming victory at 11pm the previous evening. I furrowed my brow, and cast a glance at David Butler, the famed political scientist and a man more acquainted with this sort of programme than I. His response was equally as incredulous as mine. I knew that I had to be stoic in my delivery, just as my father had been thirty years prior on VE Day as a BBC correspondent. I steadied myself and provided a delivery that will forever rank in the echelons of British history."

~ an excerpt from "David Dimbleby: A Career Retrospective", a programme aired on Radio 4 upon his retirement from broadcasting in December 2018.

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BBC One

3:43am

EEC Referendum Night '75

Dimbleby: "The decision taken by Edward Heath three years ago to enter Britain into the Common Market has been reversed by the British people in what appears to be an overwhelming majority of at least 60% to 40%, if current figures are to be maintained in the results yet to come."

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In the forty-three years since Britain's decision to leave the European Economic Community, we have seen a plethora of Prime Ministers and governments come and go, each of them falling to the sword as they bemoan the fatal question:

"HOW DO YOU SOLVE A PROBLEM LIKE EUROPE?"

A Retrospective Look at British History, Culture and Political Parties since 1975. ​

 

[AtleticoPulis]

Part I: What Led To Leave

Section 1: A Most Peculiar Election Victory

If the victory of Edward Heath's Conservative Party in the 1970 General Election took political pundits by complete surprise, his victory in the General Election of February 1974 was even more of a shock.1

Commentators generally put this down to a series of factors close to the election which restored confidence in Heath's government. The collapse of talks in Northern Ireland in late 1973 led to the delayed signing of the Sunningdale Agreement, meaning that UUP threats to dissociate with the Conservative Party did not bear fruit for the time being.2
In turn, late negotiations between the National Coal Board and the National Union of Mineworkers over miners' pay led to a 22.5% pay rise.3 This was narrowly voted through by NUM leadership in January 1974, averting a strike.

However, perhaps most important to Heath's electoral cause was his last-minute pledge of a referendum on EEC membership.4 The entry of Britain into the Common Market had proved unpopular on Heath's backbenches, with prominent Tory MPs such Enoch Powell threatening resignation without a change in policy. As such, Heath agreed to hold a vote on the EEC by the summer of 1975.

Even with these concessions, it was widely believed that unpopular policies such as the Three-Day Week would consign Heath and the Conservatives to the opposition benches once more. Plots against the Prime Minister were rumoured in the tabloids (one publication under the tutelage of a certain Mr Murdoch declared him as "Ted as a Dodo") and rumours that former Prime Minister Alec Douglas-Home would take the helm failed to bear immediate fruit. Despite all the concessions he had made, it appeared Heath would still have to suffer.

Yet when the tabloids went to press on the morning of February 29th, they were forced to eat their words. The Conservatives were back in power with a reduced majority of 325 seats, a loss of five seats, but with 40 seats more than Labour, who had lost out due to SNP gains in Scotland and Liberal gains in previously core Labour voting areas. "Ted as a Dodo" had become "Teflon Ted", the man able to shake off any scandal and come through stronger. And with March 1974 bringing an end to the worldwide oil crisis, it seemed the Prime Minister would have an easier time on his hands than had been the case. Or so he thought.

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1 - In reality, the February 1974 election resulted in a hung parliament and a weak Labour minority government until an election in October provided Harold Wilson's party with a slim majority.
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2 - The Sunningdale Agreement IOTL was signed in late 1973 and led to the UUP withdrawing support for the Conservative Party. With the collapse of said agreement, Heath is still able to rely on the UUP to secure his majority.

3 - IOTL Heath only offered a 15% pay rise which the NUM rejected overwhelmingly.

4 - IOTL the Conservatives were generally unsupportive of an EEC referendum, however threats from prominent Tory Eurosceptics force Heath's hand here.
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[AtleticoPulis]

Section 2: Yesterday's Men Look To Tomorrow

The reaction of the Labour Party to the result of the general election was one of complete desolation. As a 1971 BBC documentary had put it, they really were "Yesterday's Men", and the future of the party looked bleak after a second successive election defeat, not seen by any Labour leader since the days of Clement Attlee.

And like Attlee in 1955, Harold Wilson took the decision to step down as party leader after eleven years in the top job. He had been swept into power as a fresh face in British politics just ten years prior, now he was ageing, tired and viewed as a has-been. On the other hand, the man he had battled with for ten years, Edward Heath, was renewed with a sense of vigour unseen in any Conservative leader since Sir Winston Churchill. Change had to come in the Labour Party.

The ensuing leadership election did little to dissipate tensions in the Labour Party. The man who had built Labour's 1960s success was viewed as ineffective. Former cabinet minister and early frontrunner for the leadership, Barbara Castle, viewed Wilson as weak on the "three E's": Europe, education and the economy, which she prided her own campaign on restoring traditional Labour Party values to.

Her opponent in the centre of the party was Jim Callaghan. A long time friend of the trade unions, "Sunny Jim" was a noted critic of Ms Castle during her stint in cabinet, and designed his campaign on deeming her "unfit for leadership and unfit for purpose in a modernising Labour Party." Castle, on the other hand, described Callaghan as a puppet of Harold Wilson and said that the party would only experience further defeats down the line with him in charge.

Neither of them, however, could have foreseen the success of a candidate from the left of the party. Eric Heffer was first elected as an MP in 1964, as Harold Wilson's government swept to power. He'd never been a government minister or a member of shadow cabinet; indeed, many Labour supporters knew him as a maverick backbencher who had opposed diplomatic support of the US government in Vietnam in the mid-1960s. However, his message that the Labour establishment had failed in their battle for government resonated with many members, and this became apparent in the first round vote on April 5th 1974:

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Barbara Castle: 102

Jim Callaghan: 65

Eric Heffer: 118

Turnout: 100%​

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A first round victory for Heffer signalled a withdrawal from the contest by Jim Callaghan, who never served in a cabinet in government or opposition again, due in part to a speech he delivered to MPs following the result of the first round vote.

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"I know that I do not have the confidence of the members of our great parliamentary party. But there were still 65 MPs who thought that I could lead this party back into government, do not forget that. And in a battle between the hard-left of the party and the, dare I say it, more right-wing elements of our party, they will have very difficult choices to make. I'm afraid that my personal endorsement will mean nothing, for I cannot have faith in either candidate to lead this party. Once upon a time I would've rallied behind the better candidate, but I see neither as a sterling choice."

~ Jim Callaghan MP, speaking to a room of MPs in the Parliamentary Labour Party, April 1974.​

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From here, it appeared that the route to Labour leadership would be rocky. The unions who had initially backed Callaghan switched their support to Heffer, while 15 MPs who had voted for Callaghan declared that they would abstain from voting, urging their fellow members to write-in Callaghan's name on the ballot paper.

The internal battle intensified here as well. Castle took a rare opportunity to rouse the left of the party, saying that Heffer as an advocate for continued membership of the EEC did not represent the wider interests of the United Kingdom, and said he lacked the expertise to lead Labour back into government.

Heffer alternatively chose not to directly attack Castle, and pursued a positive campaign where he stressed a need to return to Labour's roots, proposing further nationalisation of industry and expansion of the NHS to include dental care and prescription costs. He also declined to comment on the EEC, saying that he would respect the will of the membership when campaigning in a referendum.

Whilst the contrasting campaigns appeared set to provide a close contest, no one could have foreseen the Labour crises of 1974. The second round vote, taken two weeks after the first on April 19th 1979 went as follows:

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Barbara Castle: 125

Eric Heffer: 125

Turnout: 88.7% (35 MPs declined to vote)​

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It appeared that the Callaghan effect had worked. MPs opposed to both candidates had abstained in their droves, and now a very personal battle had also became very public.

Further votes on April 26th and May 3rd produced similar results, with fewer MPs abstaining on either vote, but neither managing to break the deadlock.

In order to force a winner of the contest, Barbara Castle and Eric Heffer both privately met with Jim Callaghan, the leader of the abstentionist movement on several occasions in late April and early May, to discuss a conclusion to the crisis. Only he could convince dissenting MPs to select a new leader in the midst of a crisis. As shown by the third and fourth round votes, Callaghan was initially unrelenting, but after a Sun headline had urged him to " Get On The Job, Jim" on the morning before the fifth round vote, May 9th, he felt he had to act.

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"I've made my choice. Let's hope it's the right one."

~ An excerpt from the diary of Jim Callaghan, dated May 9th 1974.​

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"I have ultimately decided to cast my ballot in favour of Mrs Castle. As a long time companion of hers in both cabinet and shadow cabinet, I recognise her long-term commitment to the Labour Party and public services. I believe she is the right person to lead this party forward into the rest of the 1970s, and back into government."

~ A press statement given by Jim Callaghan outside his office near Westminster on May 10th 1974.​

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This decision seemingly swung the leadership contest. Heffer's allies, particularly those such as Tony Benn and Dennis Skinner, vowed privately "to never forget what damage the centre of the party has done to the labour movement today." Their fears were realised just hours later, as the result of the Labour leadership contest was revealed:

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Barbara Castle: 181

Eric Heffer: 94

Turnout: 96.5% (10 MPs declined to vote)​

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Barbara Castle's inaugural speech as leader spoke about her humble roots as a young working-class girl from Chesterfield, describing her belief from an early age that the Labour Party were the only party who protected the interests of working class people in Britain. She spoke of a need to go back to those roots, highlighting Edward Heath's decision to enter the EEC as "destructive to the interests of this nation" and declaring that she would vehemently oppose EEC membership in the upcoming referendum. She closed her speech with a reference to her being the first female leader of a major political party in Britain, saying: "I didn't get the job because I'm a woman, but I'll get the job done," and famously sticking two fingers up at the end of the speech in a Churchill-esque pose.​

 

[Shads]

Very interesting and well written tl. How close is the 1974 election? Has Heath got a majority or a shaky minority?

 

[WaterproofPotatoes]

Top quality work, I'll be following intently!

 

[AtleticoPulis]

Very interesting and well written tl. How close is the 1974 election? Has Heath got a majority or a shaky minority?

In the February 1974 election, 318 seats were needed to get a majority, Heath's Conservatives have 325. This gives him a slim majority but is by no means completely secure, as you'll see as this timeline progresses.

 

[AtleticoPulis]

Section 3: Success Goes Sour

If the General Election of February 1974 gave Edward Heath and the Conservative Party any hope of an easy year, that hope will have been dashed in a matter of weeks. The sudden resignation of NUM President Joe Gormley in early March led to the election of his Vice-President, Mick McGahey.1 McGahey was a noted communist and was elected on a platform of further pay rises for NUM staff, arguing that the 22.5% rise agreed months ago did not go far enough.

Heath met with NUM representatives in the week following the election, to discuss further compromises. His initial offer was to raise the rises, which were to go in effect at the start of the next year in April, to 25%. McGahey turned down what he called a "pitiful" offer, stressing that the importance of the mines to British industry meant that anything less than a 35% rise would be a "betrayal of miners' contribution to this country." Heath refused to budge, and strike action was organised at the end of March.

Whilst the end to the global oil crisis in late March alleviated some of the strain caused by these strikes, electricity consumption still could not match coal stocks, and as such, the Conservative government were forced to extend the Three Day Week into the spring months.2 In turn, reduced television hours due to the Three Day Week led to arguments over the pay of technicians for ITV, who refused to relent regarding a pay increase, insisting that their hands were tied by central government. This then resulted in ITV technicians going on strike for six months during 1974, leaving Britain with just two terrestrial channels.3

If the Prime Minister thought that his problems solely consisted of the ramifications of the Three Day Week, he was sorely mistaken. In Northern Ireland, impatience grew over an agreement to restore an Assembly in Stormont. The UUP Leader, and advocate for the Sunningdale Agreement, Brian Faulkner, stepped down in April 1974 after three years at the helm, to be replaced by Harry West. West had been a critic of both Faulkner and his predecessor, Terence O'Neill, arguing that their conciliatory approach towards the nationalist community had led to the start of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Due to this, West believed that no agreement should be signed in Northern Ireland until Westminster had dealt with nationalist paramilitary violence, and he refused to engage with any further talks regarding Sunningdale. As such, Edward Heath was forced to admit defeat and brought direct rule back into place in Northern Ireland on May 1st 1974.4

This led to the resignation of Francis Pym, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, who had championed the restoration of Stormont's Assembly. Heath replaced him with Airey Neave, a backbencher previously critical of Heath's soft stance on Northern Ireland, in order to indicate a harder direction in the region. Neave ordered an increased military presence in cities such as Belfast and Derry/Londonderry, citing the increased threat from the Provisional Irish Republican Army as a reason for doing so.

This action brought Neave in for personal criticism just two weeks after his appointment, when loyalist paramilitary group, the Ulster Volunteer Force, committed bombings in Dublin and Monaghan, both in the Republic of Ireland, killing 34 people. Heath issued a condemnation of the attack, however, in his statement regarding the bombings, Irish Taoiseach Liam Cosgrave indicated that a more hardline stance from the British government in Northern Ireland might have empowered the perpetrators of the bombings. 5

Unsurprisingly, the Troubles dominated the rest of the year's headlines. A PIRA bombing at the Tower of London killed five during the summer,6 Prime Minister Heath's pre-government address was targeted whilst he was meeting with the new US President Gerald Ford at 10 Downing Street, riots at Maze Prison led to Airey Neave ordering further army reinforcements at Northern Irish prisons, and the Birmingham Eight were charged after a bombing which killed 25 people.7

However, as the year drew to a close, things started to look up for the Conservative government. An end to the miners' strike in early September, after a 30% pay rise compromise was met, led to a fairly uneventful winter and the official end of the Three Day Week, ITV resumed normal programming by the autumn, car manufacturers Lada and Mitsubishi began producing cars in the UK, and the BBC launched its long-running Ceefax service. Once again, "Teflon Ted" had weathered the storm, but 1975 was to be his most difficult year yet.
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1 - IOTL McGahey and Gormley called the strikes in January after an initial offer of 15% was rejected by the NUM.

2 - IOTL the new Labour government agreed to a 35% NUM pay rise in March, bringing an end to the Three Day Week.

3 - This did not happen IOTL, as the Three Day Week did not last long enough to cause significant damage to television scheduling.

4 - IOTL Sunningdale collapsed before the General Election and the new Labour government restored direct rule upon coming to power.

5 - This obviously didn't happen IOTL, as a hardline Secretary of State for Northern Ireland wasn't appointed by the Labour government.

6 - Only one person was killed in the bombings IOTL, PoD is that the attack ends up being more successful.

7 - IOTL the infamous Birmingham Six were wrongly accused and convicted of the bombings - PoD is that Neave's hardline approach to Northern Ireland leads to more arrests to make an example of the accused. ​

 

[AtleticoPulis]

Section 4: A Funny Old Referendum

After a rocky year to kick off his second term as Prime Minister, Edward Heath began his second year in much more mundane settings, competitively, appointing the next Archbishop of Canterbury. His nomination to the Queen was none other than Edward Henderson, the Bishop of Bath and Wells since 1960. Henderson was rare in that he had seen wartime service as a chaplain in Ayr, which Heath felt made him a less controversial choice than previous Archbishops. The new Archbishop began his five year stint in the role upon his enthroning on 24th January 1975.

Elsewhere, preparations were being made for the momentous EEC referendum, promised by the Conservative Party in the previous election manifesto. Heath had said he would hold the referendum by summer, and set a prospective date for the vote as the first week in June, giving him five months to plan his personal campaign.

However, there were still other matters to attend to. March saw unemployment reach the one million mark, as the impacts of the previous year began to hit home once more. February had seen 43 people killed in the Moorgate tube crash, at the time the worst peacetime disaster in the history of the London Underground. The National Front had began to rally supporters in the midst of the uncertainty regarding EEC membership.

All of this will have been on the mind of Edward Heath as he spoke live across the country to announce the referendum date, and the voting options:

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"I can today announce that this country shall hold a referendum on membership of the Common Market on June 5th 1975. This vote follows a series of events in the last year that have proven it prudent for Britain to decide what place it wishes to hold in the world."

"When I entered us into the European Economic Community three years ago, I saw a window of opportunity: not personal, but national. We had been granted the chance to trade freely and willingly with our European neighbours, to keep peace and prevent war. However, those who seek to divide us think we do not deserve that right. They would rather see Britain in splendid isolation than at peace with itself and others. To those people, I say that this is a battle you cannot win."

"I stand by my decision to enter the EEC. I hope that you will too. Thank you."

~ the closing excerpt of Edward Heath's address to the country on 28th March 1975. ​

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Political pundits and scientists alone were stunned at the harsh tone of the Prime Minister's address. In a defiant rally cry, he had challenged both the Opposition and members of his own party to a protracted battle for the heart of Britain.

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"I frankly couldn't believe my eyes when I saw we had called this referendum so soon, with no preparation. I had spoken with Ted some months before about renegotiating terms with the EEC before announcing a referendum; even if I did want out, I wanted to make it a fair contest and provide the chance for meaningful reform. I should've known it was a foolish venture. That wasn't Ted's way of doing it, you see, he had this ability to be hopelessly stubborn at the best of times. In hindsight, it's a shame he didn't personally take my advice. It would've saved him a lot of trouble during the rest of his ministry."

~ an excerpt from Enoch Powell's 1992 appearance on "Breakfast with Frost" to commemorate fifteen years since Britain formally left the EEC.​

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Heath had also failed to notify the EEC of his decision to call the referendum in June, earning him some unexpected ire from member states, in particular, Irish Taoiseach Liam Cosgrave. Cosgrave said that it'd be a gross mistake to play with the sensitivities of Europe when "Britain's future lies in their hands," delivering an immediate blow to the hopes of the Yes campaign as those who supported an EEC departure characterised this comment as "bureaucratic meddling".

Meanwhile, the Labour Party was on the verge of tearing itself apart over the EEC. Barbara Castle, a committed Eurosceptic, had said that the party would unanimously back a No vote, however, when this went to a vote at the April Labour Party conference, over half of members voted to support a Yes vote, largely due to the impact of leaving under a Conservative administration. Castle remained determined to plough on with a Eurosceptic pledge from Labour, however, the threat of a leadership challenge from Shadow Home Secretary Roy Jenkins led to her announcement that the Labour Party would take no official stance in the referendum.

Elsewhere, both the SNP and Plaid Cymru backed a No vote, as did the Communist Party of Britain. The Liberals notably rallied in favour of a Yes, whilst the UUP broke with traditional Conservative ranks in supporting a No vote, also narrowly supported by elements of the Scottish Conservative Party, much to the chagrin of the Prime Minister.

The campaign was a heated one. The Leader of the Opposition led the No campaign, formally known as the National Referendum Campaign, alongside her long-time internal opponent Tony Benn and Conservative maverick Enoch Powell. Heath placed himself at direct loggerheads with Castle, chairing the Yes campaign, formally known as the Britain in Europe campaign, alongside Castle's old foe Jim Callaghan and Liberal Party leader Jeremy Thorpe. Castle went one step further than her peers however, challenging Heath to an American-style one on one debate regarding EEC membership on the first day of campaigning, arguing that it was up to the Prime Minister to defend the poor deal he'd made with Europe.

Heath was initially reluctant to do this. But the opening weeks of the campaign saw him come under flak for a reunited campaign and party, shown by Heath and Callaghan contradicting one another on whether a Yes vote would lead to renegotiation with the EEC on British inclusion in the Common Market; Heath opposed this vehemently, whereas Callaghan saw it as a necessary step to attract mild Eurosceptics. On the other hand, the No campaign seemed to be running fairly swimmingly, with Barbara Castle's personal popularity as Leader of the Opposition bolstering the campaign greatly in opposition to the increasingly unpopular Heath. This led to Heath being forced to bite the bullet, agreeing to hold a referendum debate on June 1st, just four days before the vote took place.

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Polling Throughout 1975 on EEC Membership:​

January: Yes - 55%, No - 45%
February: Yes - 60%, No - 40%
March: Yes - 50%, No - 50%
April: Yes - 55%, No - 45%
Pre-Debate Poll (May): Yes - 50%, No - 50%​

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Please note: Not every post will be as frequent as this. Part 1 serves as an epilogue to the main TL in terms of providing context, so I'm trying to get it out of the way so that I can move onto the bulk of the story. The highlights of the referendum debate and their aftermath will be posted tomorrow, followed by the actual referendum results over the weekend. Posts will then become more infrequent as we tell a more complex and troubling story... ​

 

[AtleticoPulis]

Section 5: The Debate

BBC One

8:15pm

1st June 1975

Continuity: You can catch up with the next episode of the Brothers next week at 7:25 here on BBC One. In an hour and forty-five minutes, a very special News bulletin at the later time of 10pm. But for now, we go over to David Dimbleby at Television Centre for Heath vs Castle: The EEC Debate.

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Dimbleby: Good evening and welcome to the BBC Common Market debate, with me, David Dimbleby. The referendum on EEC membership has already led to many twists and turns on the campaign trail, and with four days to go until the crucial vote, this forum gives the Yes and No campaigns one final chance to state their case to the country. I am joined by the Prime Minister, Mr Edward Heath, and the Leader of the Opposition, Barbara Castle, who will state the case for their respective campaign. Firstly, I will present the floor to the Prime Minister, speaking on behalf of the Yes campaign.

Heath: Thank you, David. In four days' time, Britain has a very clear choice: internationalism, or isolationism. We as a country are very lucky in that we have always had allies, to defend us in wartime and peacetime. Membership of the European Economic Community is merely an extension of that, providing us with trade links, the ability to portray European diplomacy, and to bring all the nations of this continent together in ever closer union.

Mrs Castle and her campaign have fought very valiantly, that much is for certain. But the fact of the matter is that she is scant with facts and laden with hypotheses and hypocrisies. You cannot leave a union such as the EEC and expect to come out better: it would be playing with fire to appease those who wish to restore the Little England narrative we have fought so hard against, both in Commonwealth, and in empire. Tonight, I wish to put my case forward to you as to why we need to stay in the Common Market if we are to compete on a global stage.

Dimbleby: Now, if the Leader of the Opposition would like to give her opening statement.

Castle: Thank you. The Prime Minister and his fellow campaigners like to make a big show out of how good the EEC has been to us, but when you look at the surface, the European Economic Community is a bureaucratic mess and an absolute affront to modern democracy. Those who support a No vote aren't saying to go without friends: we aren't fools, you need allies to get on in this world. But if those alliances come at the expense of Britain, they aren't worth the paper they're written on.

We need a full renegotiation of the trade agreements we operate under, and that can't be done under the EEC. Mr Heath can even tell you that, after all, the negotiations that Conservative ministers billed up over the Common Market didn't happen, did they?

If we can't decide our future on our terms, then we won't have a future. Why risk parliamentary sovereignty for a half-baked lopsided union designed to take and not give. We need to get out before we're stuck in.

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The debate covered four key topics: trade, workers' rights, constitutional factors and the economy. On trade, Heath and Castle clashed over what the EEC provided. The Prime Minister argued that Common Market membership made trading with European partners easier, stating that red tape wasn't needed anymore. Mrs Castle then reasoned that the UK hadn't had to put up with red tape before joining the EEC three years previously, saying that it wouldn't be too hard to renegotiate trade agreements when we hadn't fully committed to the "European project" as she called it. It was Heath who risked playing with fire, she said, in risking Britain's trade future by unilaterally entering it into the EEC in the first place.

On the economy, Heath waxed lyrical about the previous Labour government leaving Britain as the sick man of Europe. EEC membership, he argued, had brought Britain out of economic hardship, and had helped bring prosperity back. In his view, severing ties with Europe would only damage Britain's economic standing. The Leader of the Opposition was unforgiving on this line: Heath had been in power for five years and had hardly stabilised Britain, as the country was still in recession, unemployment was at an all-time high and Northern Ireland had erupted into street warfare. Then came the fatal line, later described by political pundits as "the line that defined the career of Barbara Castle: it was like a firm teacher telling off a misbehaving schoolboy": "Can you tell me anything that you've actually achieved in the last five years, Edward?"

Prior to this stage, Heath had performed fairly decently, but this retort shook his confidence, and the Leader of the Opposition decimated him. On the constitution, she argued that the Yes campaign had undermined parliamentary sovereignty and British democracy when they entered Britain into the EEC. On workers' rights, she said that Heath had used EEC regulations as a defence against criticism of government policy on industry, arguing that his bullish response to the Three Day Week proved he couldn't be trusted on industry, and as such, EEC membership would allow him to roll over and accept anything that the Common Market threw at him. "Teflon Ted" had been torn apart, dooming his campaign in the process.

The closing statements said very little other than what had already been parroted: Castle presented EEC departure as a chance to make Britain a nation free to do as it pleased and to seek its own path in the world, whereas Heath decried opposition to EEC membership as being a relic of the past, accusing the No campaign of wanting to disrupt peace.

And as the debate closed, David Dimbleby asked viewers to contemplate fully which side they would support based on tonight's debate as well as other factors. If the former was to be taken into account, the Yes campaign had snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.

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The reaction to the debate in Tory circles was one of sheer horror: the Leader of the Opposition had made the Prime Minister look like an amateur. When it had been his intention to present the Labour Party as divided on the Common Market, Heath had only presented himself as weak and as a patsy on Brussels. He had proved one thing to Tory backbenchers more than anything: if the British public were to vote to leave the European Economic Community, it could not be with Heath as Prime Minister.​

 

[Major Crimson]

Wow great stuff so far! I remember a few years back we got loads of 60s and 70s Britpol TLs so I'm glad to see a new one.