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    A Love Affair with Europe: The Case for a European Future
    A Love Affair with Europe: The Case for a European Future
    A Love Affair with Europe: The Case for a European Future
    Ebook67 pages57 minutes

    A Love Affair with Europe: The Case for a European Future

    By Giles Radice

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    About this ebook

    From his earliest childhood, Giles Radice has held Europe close to his heart. Ten years after the end of World War II, at the age of 18, he set off to cycle across the continent. Meeting his European contemporaries, Radice discussed the prospects of building a new and better Europe, in which war might be ended forever and prosperity assured for all. It was clear to him that Europe should unite, and that Britain could not stay on the margins. Elected to Parliament, Radice did his part, pushing Britain to become and remain officially a part of Europe, and asking why the British always remained reluctant Europeans, forever skeptical about the benefits of greater union. Now, post-Brexit, he confronts those questions anew. Why have the underlying forces of the EU not pulled Britain closer to the continent? How much should we blame the negative influence of the media? From Thatcher’s Euroscepticism to Blair’s soundbites and the half-hearted campaign from both main parties in the referendum of 2016, Radice ultimately places the blame squarely on the political class itself.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHaus Publishing
    Release dateOct 15, 2019
    ISBN9781912208159
    A Love Affair with Europe: The Case for a European Future

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      Book preview

      A Love Affair with Europe - Giles Radice

      Publishing.

      Introduction

      As a supporter of European unity since the age of 18, I was shattered by the victory of the Leave campaign in the June 2016 referendum on the United Kingdom’s membership of the European Union (EU).

      My wife and I had worked hard for the Remain campaign in Lincoln in the weeks before referendum day, and although we met a growing number of Leave supporters during our door-to-door campaigns, we still hoped for a Remain victory. However, when the early results came in from the north of England (with a big win for the Leavers in Sunderland and with the Remainers only just ahead in Newcastle), we realised that the odds were now against a favourable outcome. The final result confirmed our worst fears: 52 per cent for Leave and 48 per cent for Remain.

      I was devastated by the Leave win. As well as a personal defeat, I saw it as a disaster for both the UK and Europe. Michael Bloomberg, the American media mogul, expressed my thoughts exactly when he said, it was the stupidest thing any country has ever done. And what made the Remain defeat even harder to bear was the reaction of my grandchildren. One of them, with tears in his eyes and in words I shall never forget, cried out, Grandpa, you do realise that your generation has just ruined my life!

      Like many of my colleagues on the Remain side, I was shocked and uncertain about what should be done next. But my friend Peter Hennessy came to my rescue by suggesting that I write a short account of how I became a supporter both of the EU and of the UK’s membership of it.

      In this book, I also describe the way in which, following the 1975 referendum, Europe became my main concern within the Labour Party and in parliament; why – despite over 40 years of membership – the British remained reluctant Europeans, culminating in the narrow victory for the Leave campaign in the 2016 referendum; and why Brexit could yet be prevented from becoming a self-inflicted wound.

      In the three years since the referendum, it has become ever more certain that leaving the EU – especially at such a dangerous time for the West – is an unacceptably high-risk strategy that could lead to disaster for the UK. In contrast, the case for remaining in the EU is gathering force by the day. As I write, it is becoming increasingly clear to me that, even if we did leave the EU at the end of the Article 50 period (which is still by no means certain), the UK will decide to rejoin sooner or later. The last section sets out the reasoning behind my thinking, and so this short book – which started as a requiem – ends on a more optimistic

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