Between the Waves: a ‘spirited study’ of Britain’s history

Why did the United Kingdom leave the European Union? Perhaps, said Michael Gove in The Spectator, “it might be better to ask why did it ever join?”

In this “panoramic history of British – and continental – politics from 1942 to the present day”, Tom McTague sets himself the “formidable task” of explaining the “two most consequential decisions” of the post-war period: to join the European Economic Community in 1973, and to leave the EU 47 years later.

While much of the focus is on high politics, and “elite figures” such as Charles de Gaulle and Harold Wilson, the book is also a “history of ideas” – which traces the intellectual currents that led to the initial quest for European integration, and the later rise of euro-scepticism. Despite this being a debate that has “polarised politics and shattered friendships”, McTague, to his credit, remains above the fray, and gives both sides a fair hearing. “It is hard to think of many books which leave one admiring both Edward Heath and Enoch Powell more.” The result is “authoritative, original and wise”, and essential reading for anyone wishing to understand contemporary Britain.

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McTague opens his narrative, rather unexpectedly, in Algiers in late 1942, said Dominic Sandbrook in The Times. There, three figures were present who would play a key role in history: Churchill’s representative in north Africa, Harold Macmillan, who oversaw Britain’s first application to join the EEC in 1961; the French bureaucrat Jean Monnet, a founding father of the European project; and Powell, then a “Nietzsche-obsessed” intelligence officer who would become the first prominent euro-sceptic. Over the “thoughtful and richly provocative” pages that follow, McTague describes how Britain was drawn into the “Continental club”, but never with much enthusiasm: for most of its politicians, EU membership was a “regrettable necessity”. Such half-heartedness, he shows, ultimately paved the way for Brexit.

It is when dealing with the Brexiters, and where “their ideas came from”, that this “spirited study” really excels, said N. Piers Ludlow in Literary Review. McTague offers illuminating portraits of euro-sceptic intellectuals such as Maurice Cowling and Roger Scruton, and “skilfully sets out” how their ideas were embraced by the Tory Party. Yet his grasp of earlier periods is less assured – such as the influence of Britain’s commonwealth interests on its European policy. As a result, this book is very good at explaining Brexit; but it isn’t quite the “broad history” of Britain’s troubled relationship with Europe that McTague wanted it to be.