"The idea that we must choose between our allies, that somehow we're with either America or Europe, is plain wrong. I reject it utterly," he said.
His next sentence mocked him: “Attlee did not choose between allies.” Actually, he did. Clement Attlee refused to take part in the early steps of European integration – and regarded the transatlantic alliance as the key relationship.
Those who venerate the Myth of the Sainted Attlee might be horrified by his response to Harold Macmillan’s application to join the Common Market in 1962: “I confess I feel gravely disturbed. We are allying ourselves with six nations of Europe … Four of those we rescued only 20 years or so ago from domination by the other two. Now we go cap in hand to the people whom we thought we beat in war.”
This story is from the December 04, 2024 edition of The Independent.
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This story is from the December 04, 2024 edition of The Independent.
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