The Macmillan Government and Europe: A Study in the Process of Policy Development

252 Pages·1996·28.082 MB·English

by  Jacqueline Tratt (auth.)

THE MACMILLAN GOVERNMENT AND EUROPE

The Macmillan
Government and
Europe
A Study in the Process of Policy
Development
Jacqueline Tratt
flfl
First published in Great Britain 1996 by
MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS
and London
Companies and representatives
throughout the world
A catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library.
ISBN 978-1-349-39807-2 ISBN 978-0-230-37771-4 (eBook)
DOl 10.1057/9780230377714
First published in the United States of America I 996 by
ST. MARTIN'S PRESS, INC.,
Scholarly and Reference Division.
175 Fifth Avenue,
New York. N.Y. 10010
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Tratt, Jacqueline. 1946-
The Macmillan government and Europe: a study in the process of
policy development I Jacqueline Tratt.
p. em.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
I. Macmillan, Harold, 1894-1986. 2. Great Britain-Politics and
govemment-1945-1964. 3. Great Britain- Foreign relations-Europe.
4. Europe-Foreign relations-Great Britain. 5. Great Britain
-Foreign relations-1945- I. Title.
DA566.9.M33T73 1996
327.41 04---dc20 9&-23688
CJP
© Jacqueline Tratt 1996
Softcover reprint ofthe hardcover 1st edition 1996 978-0-333-66238-0
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of
this publication may be made without written permission.
No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or
transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with
the provisions of the Copyright. Designs and Patents Act 1988,
or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying
issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court
Road, London WI P 9HE.
Any person who docs any unauthorised act in relation to this
publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil
claims for damages.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 :'1 2 I
05 04 03 02 01 ()() 99 98 97 96
In politics, all situations are exceptional situations; those who write
about them at the time rarely understand their complexity; those
who handle them are, because human, fallible and, because politi
cal animals, neither free nor unfettered in their choice of action.
(L.C.B. Seaman, Victorian England, 1973)

Contents
Preface ix
A ckn owledgemen ts xi
List of Abbreviations xiii
Introduction 1
1 No Easy Solution 11
2 Finding a Way Forward 30
3 EFTA: The Least Bad Option 41
4 'What is it we want?' 55
5 Dissonance and Drift 71
6 A Momentous Plan 85
7 Pressure, Politics and Persuasion 102
8 The Cabinet Says 'No' 116
9 At Home and Abroad 128
10 In the Departments 140
11 Exercises in Power Broking 153
12 Back to the Cabinet 168
Conclusion 188
Afterword 202
vn
viii Contents
Appendix I Some Cabinet Ministers, 1958-61 204
Appendix II Some Senior Civil Servants, 1958-61 205
Appendix III Cabinet Committees Concerned with
Britain's Trading Relationship with Europe 207
Notes 208
Bibliography 229
Index 232
Preface
At a time when the political process in Britain has come
under critical scrutiny, it is tempting to hark back to an age
of political rectitude and stability - when policies were for
mulated through recourse to the proper machinery of govern
ment; when ideas were thrashed out in cabinet and when
the power of decision rested, ultimately, with the people.
There never was such a time, and if there was, the Macmillan
premiership was not it.
This is a study of democratic government under pressure.
Then, as now, it was the issue of Britain's relationship with
Europe that provided a major source of frustration, disillu
sion, conflict and compromise. Then, as now, a Conserva
tive government was confronted with a challenge that had
the potential for splitting not only the cabinet but also the
party itself.
Although there have been several studies relating to how
the Macmillan government handled the European issue, none
has addressed the question from the perspective of the key
players themselves. Because this work relies heavily upon
recently released documents, together with interviews with
some of the officials involved, it offers a new way of looking
at the machinery of government as well as pointing up some
inevitable flaws of an essentially unplanned democratic system.
This work adds to our knowledge in two important ways.
First, it highlights the tendency for error among able of1
ficials and politicians faced with an apparently imponder
able dilemma. Secondly, it illustrates their proneness to
machination and dissimulation, which arises, it transpires,
not out of an innate tendency to perfidy or dishonesty but
out of the intractable contradiction between the democratic
process and the obligation on democratic governments to
work towards (their interpretation of) the long-term national
good - even while incurring short-term political and econ
omic costs.
The work differs from previous studies in respect of both
sources and method. With regard to sources, the wealth of
ix